How UN Peacekeepers Respond to Host State Democratic Norm Violations

• In Event: Autocracies and International Organizations

Abstract

UN peacekeeping mandates usually include a set of liberal objectives associated with the promotion of democracy, including support for free and fair elections and the rule of law. However, UN peacekeeping missions are also frequently deployed in authoritarian countries where political violence and repression are common. In this paper, we seek to explain the way in which UN peacekeeping missions respond to democratic norm violations by host governments. We offer a new typology of mission responses to domestic norm violations, and we build on the literature on international organisations and norm enforcement to develop new theory that explains why UN peacekeeping missions respond in the way that they do. We draw on interview data from several contemporary peacekeeping missions, including those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Liberia.

Authors

• Sarah von Billerbeck, University of Reading

• Birte Julia Gippert, University of Liverpool

• Kseniya Oksamytna, King's College London