countryTFGTransitional Federal Government (Somalia)TRWTRW Automotive (part of the Northrop Grumman Group)TSZTemporary Security Zone (Ethiopia–Eritrea)UAVUnmanned aerial vehicleUNUnited NationsUNAMICUnited Nations Advance Mission in CambodiaUNAMIDAU/UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (Sudan)UNAMIRUnited Nations Assistance Mission in RwandaUNAMSILUnited Nations Mission in Sierra LeoneUNAVEM IUnited Nations Angola Verification Mission IUNAVEM IIUnited Nations Angola Verification Mission IIUNAVEM IIIUnited Nations Angola Verification Mission IIIUNDOFUnited Nations Disengagement Observer ForceUNDPUnited Nations Development ProgrammeUNEF IUnited Nations Emergency Force IUNEF IIUnited Nations Emergency Force IIUNEPSUnited Nations Emergency Peace ServiceUNFICYPUnited Nations Peacekeeping Force in CyprusUNGOMAPUnited Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and PakistanUNHCROffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesUNICEFUnited Nations International Children’s Emergency FundUNIFILUnited Nations Interim Force in LebanonUNIIMOGUnited Nations Iran–Iraq Military Observer GroupUNIKOMUnited Nations Iraq–Kuwait Military Observation MissionUNIPOMUnited Nations India–Pakistan Observer MissionUNISFAUnited Nations Interim Security Force for AbyeiUNITAUnião Nacional para a Independência Total de AngolaUNITAFUnified Task Force (Somalia)UNITARUnited Nations Institute for Training and ResearchUNMEEUnited Nations Mission in Ethiopia and EritreaUNMIBHUnited Nations Mission in Bosnia and HerzegovinaUNMIHUnited Nations Mission in HaitiUNMIKUnited Nations Mission in KosovoUNMILUnited Nations Mission in LiberiaUNMISUnited Nations Mission in SudanUNMISETUnited Nations Mission in Support of East TimorUNMISSUnited Nations Mission in South SudanUNMITUnited Nations Mission in Timor-LesteUNMOGIPUnited Nations Military Observer Group in India and PakistanUNMOTUnited Nations Mission of Observers in TajikistanUNOCAUnited Nations regional office in Central AsiaUNOCIUnited Nations Mission in Côte d’IvoireUNOGILUnited Nations Observation Group in LebanonUNOMIGUnited Nations Observer Mission in GeorgiaUNOMILUnited Nations Observer Mission in LiberiaUNOMSILUnited Nations Observer Mission in Sierra LeoneUNOMURUnited Nations Observer Mission in Uganda/RwandaUNOSOM IUnited Nations Operation in Somalia IUNOSOM IIUnited Nations Operation in Somalia IIUNOWAUnited Nations regional office in West AfricaUNPAUnited Nations Protected Area (Croatia)UNPOLUnited Nations PoliceUNPREDEPUnited Nations Preventive Deployment Force (Macedonia)UNPROFORUnited Nations Protection Force (former Yugoslavia)UNSASUN Standby Arrangements SystemUNSCOBUnited Nations Special Committee on the BalkansUNSMIHUnited Nations Support Mission for HaitiUNTACUnited Nations Transitional Authority in CambodiaUNTAESUnited Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, Western SirmiumUNTAETUnited Nations Transition Authority in East TimorUNTAGUnited Nations Transitional Assistance Group (Namibia)UNTEAUnited Nations Temporary Executive AuthorityUNTMIHUnited Nations Transition Mission in HaitiUNTSOUnited Nations Truce Supervision OrganizationUNYOMUnited Nations Yemen Observation MissionUSAIDUS Agency for International DevelopmentWPSWomen, Peace and Security
Acknowledgements
In compiling the third edition, we would like to thank the many friends, colleagues and peacekeepers who have influenced our views on these issues. In addition, we have benefited enormously from discussing these topics with students who have taken our respective courses on peace operations over the last two decades. The team at Polity, as well as the anonymous reviewers, also deserve thanks for their incisive editing and comments, which helped improve the manuscript in several ways. Our thanks are also due to Eric Rudberg for his help in compiling the book’s index.
Finally, the authors and publisher would like to thank the following for permission to use copyright material: Figure 12.1 © 2013. Reprinted with permission from the International Peace Institute; figure 14.1 (adapted) and table 14.1 (adapted) © 2005 by Deborah D. Avant. Reprinted with permission from the author and Cambridge University Press; box 18.1 © 2014 by William Durch. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
Introduction
Since the late 1940s, peace operations have become one of the principal international instruments for managing armed conflicts. Nearly 200 such missions have been conducted in every region of the world by a range of multinational organizations and coalitions of states. Peace operations have assumed a wide range of shapes and sizes but they share some important family resemblances. First, all peace operations stem from a desire on the part of the actors that authorize and participate in them to limit the scourge of war. Second, peace operations are almost always collective endeavours undertaken by multiple actors for purposes that go beyond the interests of any one of them. Third, these missions have always been ad hoc responses to particular problems, most notably how to manage and potentially help resolve armed conflicts. Fourth, they are principally political instruments with an admixture of military force, which is usually intended to provide assurances to the conflict parties.
With these family resemblances in mind, this book focuses on peace operations that involve the expeditionary use of military personnel, with or without UN authorization, with a mandate or programme to:
1 assist in the prevention of armed conflict by supporting a peace process;
2 serve as an instrument to observe or assist in the implementation of ceasefires or peace agreements; and/or
3 enforce ceasefires, peace agreements or the will of the UN Security Council in order to build stable peace.
Peace operations often include civilian personnel working alongside their military colleagues, but our focus is not on missions that deploy only civilians, which generate rather different dynamics than those involving contingents of troops. Understood in this manner, peace operations are one type of activity that can be used to prevent, limit and manage violent conflict as well as rebuild states and societies in its aftermath. Other instruments in the international toolkit are conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacebuilding, sanctions, humanitarian military intervention, and transitional justice mechanisms.
Not surprisingly, there have often been heated debates about what peace operations are for and what strategies and tactics peacekeepers should employ to achieve their objectives. These differences revolve around competing conceptions of the causes and nature of violent conflict, disputes about the relative value of sovereignty and human protection, arguments over the foundations of stable peace, and contending political priorities.
Within this broad remit to manage armed conflict, the world’s peacekeepers have been mandated to perform a daunting and growing range of tasks, frequently in areas where there is no peace to keep. As well as the original tasks of confidence-building and ceasefire monitoring, modern peacekeepers have been tasked with helping to implement peace agreements; preventing the outbreak of hostilities; supporting local police and military forces; protecting humanitarian and official personnel and facilities; providing maritime security; engaging in security monitoring, patrolling and deterrence activities; ensuring the free movement of personnel and equipment; security-sector reform (SSR); demilitarization and arms management; facilitating humanitarian support; promoting human rights and the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda; strengthening the rule of law and judicial institutions; assisting local political processes; delivering electoral assistance; supporting state institutions; facilitating international cooperation and coordination; supporting the implementation of sanctions regimes; disseminating public information; promoting civilian–military coordination; contingency planning; conducting mission impact assessment; combating and sometimes ‘neutralizing’ so-called spoiler groups; and, perhaps most fundamentally, protecting civilians, including refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
When it comes to understanding peacekeeping, therefore, the stakes are very high. Done well, peace operations can significantly improve the chances of building stable peace in the world’s war-torn territories. Done
