Third Party Interests and Peacekeeping Operations: Initiation and Outcome

• In Event: International Cooperation and Security

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War, there has been an increase in the number of peacekeeping operations in conflicts. There has been some literature that has discussed when peacekeeping operations are more likely to occur and succeed, but the focus tends to be on the characteristics of the conflict itself. While these studies are useful to helping our understanding of conflict processes, they have largely overlooked another key component, which is how a third party’s interests, preferences, and motivations affect the onset and outcomes of peacekeeping operations. Studies that have addressed these questions have often been limited to select groups of states or actors, such as the United Nations Permanent Five members or the United Nations Security Council. In this paper, I expand upon these studies in two ways. First, I expand the case selection beyond United Nations peacekeeping operations and also include peacekeeping efforts by regional international organizations. Second, I create new measures to capture both state-level interests and international organization interests and how they affect both the initiation and outcome of peacekeeping operations.

Author

• Daniel Mintun, University of North Texas