Lisa Hultman, Jacob D. Kathman and Megan Shannon: Peacekeeping in the Midst of War

Abstract

Are United Nations peacekeeping missions effective at reducing violence incivil wars? Although UN peacekeeping is a notable intervention tool, theinternational community lacks systematic knowledge of how well itmitigates civil war violence. Given that UN peacekeeping is increasinglyused in the midst of war, this is a significant research gap with direct policyrelevance. This book systematically explores if and how the capacity andconstitution of UN peacekeeping missions a!ect the amount of violence incivil conflicts. It argues that peacekeeping e!ectiveness needs to beassessed in relative terms, theorizing that more robust missions areincreasingly capable of addressing combatant incentives for employingviolence. The authors conduct large-n analyses of the number ofcombatants and civilians killed during each month for all civil wars globallyfrom 1992 to 2014, measuring the capacity and constitution of UN missionswith unique data on the number and type of peacekeeping personneldeployed. The analyses reveal that increasing UN military troop and policepersonnel deployed to a conflict significantly reduces violence againstcivilians, and increasing UN military troop personnel significantly mitigatesbattle-related violence. By contrast, smaller missions and missionscomposed of observers are not associated with reduced violence. The bookcomplements the large-n analyses with qualitative explorations ofpeacekeeping mechanisms on violence in Côte d’Ivoire and the DemocraticRepublic of Congo. The authors conclude that while peacekeeping is notwithout detriments, it is an effective tool of violence reduction.