Peacekeeping
Mongolian female peacekeepers in intervention in Southern Sudan, 2013
Credit: UN Photo / Martine Perret
Summary
Since 1948, the UN has been sending out peacekeeping forces (the Blue Helmets) for the purpose of maintaining peace. Peacekeeping missions were rarely used before the end of the Cold War, but since that time they have multiplied and become increasingly complex. Because the responsibilities of UN member states are unequally divided, these missions have become subject to much criticism.
“To maintain international peace and security.” These are the words used, in the United Nations Charter to describe the primary goal of this international organization, founded in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its aim was to follow on from the failed League of Nations (LoN) project, in a context of aspirations to achieve lasting peace.
The Capstone Doctrine
The UN’s peacekeeping operations (PKO) were not themselves laid down in the Charter and have developed on an ad-hoc basis since 1948, seeking to achieve this aim while observing three fundamental principles: consent of the parties, impartiality and non-use of force. Deriving their legal basis from Chapters VI, VII and VIII of the Charter, international humanitarian law, human rights and Security Council mandates, they are the main instrument for international peacekeeping endeavors.
The Capstone Doctrine, which outlines the principles behind UN peacekeeping operations, describes the tasks assigned to its early missions as follows: “Observation, monitoring and reporting […]; Supervision of cease-fire and support to verification mechanisms; Interposition as a buffer and confidence-building measure.” As time has passed, the assignments entrusted to the Blue Helmets have become more diverse and more complex, involving the deployment of different types of mission alongside these traditional tasks – while the key concepts of UN peacekeeping have evolved through practice. In parallel to these UN operations, single states, coalitions of states and regional organizations such as NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) also undertake interventions, sometimes unilaterally, in the name of “peacekeeping”.
Since the end of the Cold War, which had limited the Security Council’s role due to the power of veto exercised by its permanent members, changes have been apparent in quantitative, qualitative and geographic terms, including in particular a growing number of what are called multidimensional operations. The aim of such operations, according to the Capstone Doctrine, is to “Create a secure and stable environment while strengthening the State’s ability to provide security, with full respect for the rule of law and human rights; [and to] facilitate the political process by promoting dialogue and reconciliation and supporting the establishment of legitimate and effective institutions of governance.” These operations typically involve a diversification of actors taking part – as in hybrid operations undertaken in collaboration with regional international organizations like the African Union – and activities including support in organizing elections, the demobilization and reintegration of former combatants, or the protection of civilians. They are sometimes based on robust peacekeeping mandates.
The budget allocated to PKOs has increased substantially between 1990 and 2017, too, giving them a central role in realizing and coordinating multiple peacebuilding activities. Significant increases in civilian and police personnel reflect the growth of multidimensional operations. In December 2017, according to its monthly Peacekeeping Operations Fact Sheet, the UN had 15 current operations in hand (out of a total of 71 since 1948), involving more than 106,338 people – including more than 90,000 uniformed personnel from 125 different countries – with a budget of USD 6.80 billion (for the period from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018).
UN peace operations budget, 1990-2017
Comment: Before 1990, that is, before the curve begins, the annual UN peacekeeping operations budget was less than 1 billion dollars – the Cold War between the two blocs meant that most attempts at peacekeeping were paralyzed. After an initial peak in the mid-1990s, when operations took place in Cambodia, Somalia, and former Yugoslavia, the budget increased during the second half of the 2000s due to the proliferation of operations in Africa. The diagram shows that in 2017-2018 several large-scale operations (usually more than 10,000 men on the ground) mobilized budgets of over 1 billion dollars (DRC, Sudan/South Sudan, and Mali).
National contributions to UN peace operations (PO), 2018
Comment: This graph compares the geography of states which contribute to the budget for UN peacekeeping operations with that of states which provide military troops. States in the North pay, while states in the South send men: the top 6 financing states (covering two-thirds of the budget) are in the North (United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom) or are members of the Security Council (China), whereas the 13 states that mainly supply troops (two-thirds of the contingent) are in the South (South and East Asia and Africa).
Resource constraints and criticisms
As the UN Secretariat highlighted in 2009, the available peacekeeping resources are mismatched with the requirements of increasingly wide-ranging mandates and PKO planning faces the ongoing challenge of adapting to evolving circumstances, demanding a flexibility and capabilities the UN simply does not possess: the UN does not have a permanent army, and Blue Helmets are sent on a voluntary basis by member states. Nonetheless, the challenges confronting PKOs are above all political in nature.
Deployment of Blue Helmets in peace operations (PO), 2018
Comment: This map shows peacekeeping operations in which soldiers sent by contributing states were deployed in January 2018. Several operations rallied over 10,000 Blue Helmets: four in Central Africa, one in Mali and one in Lebanon. States on the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal) provided substantial numbers, notably for operations in the DRC, South Sudan, and Darfur. African states also made a considerable contribution to operations in neighboring countries (for example Ethiopia, Rwanda and Egypt in the case of Darfur, Sudan, and South Sudan, and the West African states in the case of Mali). A preference for helping nearby states can also be seen in Europe, which sent troops first and foremost to the operation in Lebanon.
Some studies have deplored a lack of political will on the part of governments to support UN peacekeeping efforts over the long term. Others have criticized an uneven distribution of responsibilities: permanent Security Council members make the decisions regarding operation mandates – yet responsibility for implementing these decisions, constrained by budgets allocated by countries of the North, falls to the developing countries that contribute most of the troops involved. The political, military and strategic risks fall upon those states least able to bear them.
United Nations peacekeeping operations, 1948-2017
Comment: There were very few UN peacekeeping operations between its creation (1946) and the end of the Cold War, with the exception of a few cases (mainly the Middle East, India/Pakistan, Republic of Congo, and Cyprus). It was only during the 1990s that they multiplied, particularly in Africa, where they are now the most numerous, as well as in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central America and, more locally, Haiti, East Timor and Cambodia. This increase and geographical diversification has been accompanied by a significant rise in the budget for UN peacekeeping operations during the course of the 2010s.
The failures of operations in Bosnia (1992) and Rwanda (1994), as well as sex and health scandals affecting a large number of operations – such as the cholera epidemic caused by Blue Helmets in Haiti (2010) – have provoked heightened tensions with local communities. On the one hand, the very principles underlying PKOs have been criticized – notably for their tendency to export a neoliberal model disconnected with local realities; on the other, there remains the fundamental question of what the “peace” they are seeking to maintain actually is. This negative vision of peace – as merely the absence of war – contrasts with positive peace projects that seek to achieve emancipation and assert that security, development and human rights issues are inextricably linked.
- international organization > International Organization
- In the words of Clive Archer, an IO is “a formal, continuous structure established by agreement between members (governmental and/or non-governmental) from two or more sovereign states with the aim of pursuing the common interest of the membership.” Marie-Claude Smouts identifies three characteristics of IOs: they arise out of a “founding act” (treaty, charter, statute), have a material existence (headquarters, finance, staff), and form a “coordination mechanism.
- peacekeeping > Peacekeeping
- The UN defines peacekeeping as “a technique designed to preserve the peace, however fragile, where fighting has been halted, and to assist in implementing agreements achieved by the peacemakers” (Capstone Doctrine, 2008). It is different from peacemaking, which relates to conflicts currently under way, and to peace enforcement, which involves coercive measures including the use of force. The concept of peacebuilding refers both to the complex process of creating the conditions for sustainable peace and to targeted measures designed to reduce the risk of a return to conflict and to lay the foundations for sustainable development. These are the principles that guide the conduct of peace missions – principles that have at times attracted criticism.
- Security Council
- According to the United Nations Charter, the Security Council has main responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It is composed of five permanent members (China, United States, France, United Kingdom, and Russia), who can each quash a resolution plan with a negative vote (right of veto), and ten members (six until 1965) elected by the General Assembly for a two-year period that is not immediately renewable. Its resolutions are legally binding upon member states.
- geographic > Geography
- Geography: social science devoted to studying the production and organization of space. This space, which is differentiated and organized, serves social reproduction. Political geography: study of the spatial dimension of political organization, generally within states. Geohistory: geographic study of historical processes (diachronic).
- rule of law > Rule of law
- Rule of law refers to a system in which the legal standards are codified, stable and transparent, so that citizens know their rights and duties, while public authority is limited by its subjection to the law. This kind of system presupposes the existence of independent courts of law and equality of all before the law.
- institutions > Institutions
- The term institution refers to social structures (rules, standards, practices, actions, roles) that are long-lasting, organized in a stable and depersonalized way, and play a part in regulating social relationships. An institution can be formalized within organizations (international or otherwise). In political science, institutionalism tackles the objects of political analysis by studying their structural basis and their organizational model rather than thinking about how they relate to society.
- governance > Governance
- Inspired by management and entrepreneurship, the expression global governance refers to the formal and informal institutions, mechanisms and processes through which international relations between states, citizens, markets and international and non-governmental organizations are established and structured. The global governance system aims to articulate collective interests, to establish rights and duties, to arbitrate disputes and to determine the appropriate regulatory mechanisms for the issues and actors in question. Governance takes various forms: global multilateral governance, club-based governance (restricted to members, e.g. G7/8/20), polycentric governance (juxtaposition of regulatory and management mechanisms operating at various levels), and so on.
- international organizations > International Organization
- In the words of Clive Archer, an IO is “a formal, continuous structure established by agreement between members (governmental and/or non-governmental) from two or more sovereign states with the aim of pursuing the common interest of the membership.” Marie-Claude Smouts identifies three characteristics of IOs: they arise out of a “founding act” (treaty, charter, statute), have a material existence (headquarters, finance, staff), and form a “coordination mechanism.
- communities > Community
- According to the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies (1855-1936), community (Gemeinschaft) is the opposite of society (Gesellschaft) and denotes any form of social organization in which individuals are linked by natural or spontaneous solidarity, and driven by common goals. According to current usage, it applies to any social grouping that appears to be united, whatever its mode of integration (international community, European or Andean Community, or adherents of a religion). The ambiguous term of international community describes an ill-defined set of political actors (states, international organizations, NGOs, individuals, etc.) based on the idea of that humanity is united by common objectives and values or an allegiance to central political institutions, which is far from being the case.
- peace > Peace
- The definition of peace is much debated. A restrictive definition sees peace simply as an absence of conflict (negative peace). Peace Studies reinterpreted this definition to include the conditions necessary for peace – positive peace must be an integral aspect of human society. Combined with the concept of structural violence, positive peace was then defined more broadly to include social justice. Among the different theories of peace, the sometimes criticized notion of democratic or liberal peace asserts that the liberal democracies do not go to war with each other and only fight against non-liberal states (this approach qualifies Kant’s postulate in Perpetual Peace, 1795).
- security > Security
- A set of representations and strategies developed by an individual or collectivity to reduce the threats to which they feel exposed. At the international level, security may consist of: 1) an unstable, precarious balance between the security of different nations, underpinned by their degree of power; 2) the concerted organization of this balance (international security); 3) the establishment of a security regime imposed on all states that have signed up to it (collective security). Above and beyond any tangible threat, the language of security tends to represent objects or groups of people as dangers for the security of states, notably in order to justify particular security policies (state of emergency, military action, closing of borders, etc.).
- development > Development
- Definitions of development and its opposite – underdevelopment – have varied considerably according to the political objectives and ideological positions of those using these words. In the 1970s, Walt Whitman Rostow conceived of it as an almost mechanical process involving successive stages of economic growth and social improvement, whereas Samir Amin analyzed the relationships between center and peripheries, seeing the development of the former as founded on the exploitation of the latter. In Latin America, the dependency theory condemned the ethnocentrism of the universal view that the “periphery” of underdeveloped states could simply catch up through modernization. Talking of poor or developing “countries” masks the inequalities that also exist within societies (in both Northern and Southern hemispheres) and individuals’ connections to globalization processes.
- human rights > Human rights
- These are the fundamentally inalienable and universal rights and duties of human beings, which are indefeasible and universal. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, these were limited to “natural rights” (basic freedoms considered to be allied to human nature) but human rights have now been expanded to include civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights on the basis of human freedom and dignity. Human rights have been enshrined in the constitutions of most democratic regimes. They are also subject to many protective provisions at both regional and international levels.