Walk the Line: Examining the Factors that Enable Peacemakers to Influence Their Local Security Environment

Abstract

This thesis uses an ethnographic approach to investigate the microprocesses of a peace operation to understand whether peacekeepers on the ground can make a difference to their security environment. I examine the work of UNIFIL in South Lebanon since the implementation of Resolution 1701 in 2006 and describe the work of local actors in the UNIFIL mission and their engagement at three levels: the local, the national and the international. This thesis asked the following research questions: (1) How do peace operations influence their security environment? and; (2) What factors effect UNIFIL local engagement? This research has found that at the subnational or local level, UNIFIL is able to influence its security environment and thus contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security. It does this by sustaining local connections that serve to alert the mission to small incidents that it prevents from developing into bigger conflicts. The area of operations has experienced peace for almost eight years and this would suggest that these activities at the micro level have helped to provide an environment conducive to peace. On a practical level, the UNIFIL mission has achieved this in three main ways: first by monitoring, reporting and intervening in Blue Line violations as part of a response mechanism, to avoid escalation. Second, through the preventative mechanisms of liaising between the IDF and the LAF to encourage local level cooperation and produce micro security agreements to prevent misunderstandings. Third, UNIFIL has a very comprehensive local engagement mechanism that enables the mission to maintain local consent and avoid being affected by intrastate conflict.