The multilateral production of global policing: UN peace operations as hubs for protest policing

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article argues that UN peace operations play a central role in the nexus between policing and counterinsurgency, and constitute one of the underappreciated sites and circuits of counterinsurgent knowledge. It posits that the convergence between peace operations and counterinsurgency has been driven not only (or even primarily) by these mission’s more assertive military posture under ‘stabilization’, but also by the turn to ‘polickeeping’, the growing role of police forces and increasing importance of policing tasks in peacekeeping. The stabilization/policekeeping mindset rests on the assumption of a continuum from minor instances of disorders to full-blown armed conflict, leading to an expansive understanding of what may constitute a threat to stability and require international intervention. The articles teases out the macro and micro manifestations of this mindset through the lens of UN peace operations’ response to civil unrest and demonstrations. It shows that, because peace operations are a point of cross-fertilization for the creation and transmission of global policing practices, UN protest policing reverberates beyond the specific countries in which peace operations are deployed. Peace operations create a global demand for and supply of specific skills and tools, in particular paramilitary police forces.