Peacekeeping without Banisters: The Need for New Practices that go Beyond Just War Theory

Abstract

While there may be nothing new under the sun in terms of warfare, there are two new trends in the post-Cold war era that are strikingly at odds with each other: the resurgence of just war theory and the increase in UN led peacekeeping operations. On the one hand, there has been an explosion of just war theory since 9111 because of the crisis of the nation state seeking to find new rhetoric to legitimate violence, while on the other hand, peacekeeping, in its UN Blue beret guise, has had over fifty new UN peacekeeping missions since the 1990s. These two trends seem to work against each other not only in theory but also in practice. Because of the relatively new appearance of peacekeeping missions, there has been a lacuna in the need to develop a distinct theoretical ground one which both challenges the theoretical foundations of just war theory but also one which rehumanises the military's mission. It is my contention that the norms of just war theory are unsuitable for peacekeeping activities and that there is an urgent need to seek new practices for the latter. According to Julian LindleyFrench of NATO, 'The distinctions between peacekeeping, peacemaking and warfighting are becoming rapidly meaningless in the context of a 'threeblock' war, that is war involving humanitarian activities, stabilisation and high-intensity war fighting'. if. .. and I mean to stress if, there can be a difference between war and peacekeeping, this difference is lost in the fog of peacekeeping and its paradoxically nonnative basis in just war theory.2