Challenges in UN Peacekeeping

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel investigates several contemporary and under-studied challenges and consequences in UN peacekeeping. The first two papers, by Katharina Coleman, and Jessica Braithwaite/Susanna Campbell, explore the role of civilian staff in UN peacekeeping. Coleman’s paper draws on interviews with dozens of local civilian staff in Congo, the Central African Republic, and Western Sahara to illustrate how local and international staff may influence peacekeeping outcomes. The Braithwaite and Campbell paper uses mixed methods to develop a “theory of networks of influence” to better understand the effects of civilian staff. The second two papers focus on some important, unintended consequences of UN peacekeeping. The von Billerbeck, Gippert, Oksamytna and Tansey paper employs qualitative methods to show that UN peacekeeping may unintentionally enable the development of authoritarian rule. The Howard and Savatic paper employs mixed methods to show that peacekeepers reduce refugees, but may unintentionally increase rates of internal displacement.

Sub Unit

• Division 19: International Security

Individual Presentations

• The UN’s Local Peacekeepers: Contributions and Challenges of UN National Staff - Katharina P. Coleman, University of British Columbia

• Networks of Influence and Support in UN Peacekeeping Operations - Jessica Maves Braithwaite, University of Arizona; Susanna Campbell, American University

• Authoritarianism and UN Peacebuilding - Sarah von Billerbeck, University of Reading; Oisin Tansey, King's College London; Birte Julia Gippert, University of Liverpool; Kseniya Oksamytna, King's College London

• Peacekeeping and Forced Displacement - Filip Savatic, Georgetown University; Lise Morje Howard, Georgetown University

Chair

• Lise Morje Howard Georgetown University

Discussant

• Andrea Ruggeri University of Oxford