Peace Enforcement Operations Research Articles

The dilemmas of Russian diplomacy in the context of fundamental geopolitical changes

The strategic goals formulated in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation dated March 31, 2023, pose complex and non-standard tasks for our diplomacy, the achievement of which requires a deep understanding of the essence of the ongoing geopolitical changes, as well as a critical understanding of the previous period of our foreign policy. The dynamics of international processes are very high, and the transatlantic community, despite the weakening of its dominance, is making incredible efforts to maintain its positions. In fact, Russia and the countries of the world majority are carrying out a peace enforcement operation, limiting the West's ability to unleash a global military conflagration.

Participation of the Czech Republic in NATO Peace Support Operations: Analysis of Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

Abstract NATO, as one of the most important security organisations, has been involved in a large number of operations of all kinds since its establishment. Peace Support Operations are the most common type, as they include conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, peace enforcement and humanitarian operations. Some states participate in these operations very often, others only rarely. This study aims to examine the participation of the Czech Republic, a small state that has a small but well-trained and specialised army. The research aims to determine the most common reasons for Czech participation in NATO’s Peace Support Operations. The work uses qualitative comparative analysis to determine the necessary reasons or sufficient conditions for the participation of this state. Five types of reasons – political reasons, security reasons, economic reasons, institutional reasons and normative reasons are tested. The analysis points to the fact that security reasons are the most important reasons.

The reform of the Bundeswehr and the future of Germany’s peacekeeping activities

The reform of the Bunderwehr has been in the focus of attention of Russian and foreign research since the unification of the country^ when Germany started speaking about its responsibility for peace and political stability. Germany’s army had to not only rearm and optimize military personnel, but also to conceptualize its new role in the world and extend its global representation for the purpose of conflict settlement. However, over the last years, the consideration of problems of the Bundeswehr reforming and development has become especially important due to the fact that the Bundeswehr faces new challenges and threats, including those of a non-military nature. The reforms of Germany’s army, which have been covered in the recent documents aimed at the substantiation of the increased use of the Bundeswehr abroad, reflect the political leaders’ aspiration to make it a more effective instrument of protection against hybrid threats and prevention of conflicts affecting Germany’s security. The purpose of the article is to analyze the reform of the Bundeswehr and their influence on Germany’s peacekeeping activities. The study is based on discourse-analysis and the analysis of the main documents, determining the directions of modernization of Germany’s army, and the documents, regulating peacekeeping activities, official reports of the Ministry of Defense, official reports of the Ministry of Defense, and mass media materials about the state and the problems of the armed forces. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that it considers the reform of the Bundeswehr in its close correlation with its peacekeeping profile as the main sphere of using Germany’s army. Based on the analysis of the recent documents, regulating its activities, the author comes to the conclusion that its reforming is aimed at the expansion of peacekeeping activities, while peace-enforcement operations are considered as a last-ditch measure.   

THE 2019 SUDAN COUP AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION BY THE AFRICAN UNION

The intervention of the African Union (AU) in the 2019 coup and post-coup crisis of Sudan is the focal point of this study. The objective of the study is to evaluate the peaceful resolution of the 2019 coup and post-coup crisis in Sudan by the African Union. The research questions of the study are: What is the background of the 2019 Sudan Coup? What role did the Forces of Freedom and Change play in the 2019 coup and post-coup crisis of Sudan? How effective is the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) with respect to its mandate to intervene in member states. What are the methods used by the AU as it intervened in the 2019 coup and post-coup crisis in Sudan? The study is guided by the theoretical framework of Collective Security theory with major proponents such as Cardinal Richelieu Immanuel Kant, Woodrow Wilson etc. The study concludes that the prominent role played by the AU in the coup and post-coup crisis in Sudan is highly commendable but the lessons drawn there from can enhance future operations. The study recommends that the military capacity of the African Standby Force should be invigorated with adequate manpower and firepower to effectively carry out peace enforcement operations. Also the AU should draw a template and procedure for interface with the regional organisation of the state engulfed in conflict or crisis that the APSA is to mediate to avoid disjointed and uncoordinated mediation. The qualitative research methodology was adopted for the study.

‘Not business as usual’: changing realities and the transformations in peace operations

The paper highlights the major transformations in global peace support operations led by the United Nations at present. In light of these trends, this paper asks how these trends affect today’s peace operations and what affect they may have on future operations. In attempting to answer these questions, the paper conducts a comparative historical analysis of peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations – their scopes and legal mandates. This paper explores the local security and legitimacy implications of the expanded will of the United Nations to use peace enforcement. Furthermore, it examines the major challenges – both doctrinal and operational – of peace operations in the contemporary period. Finally, the paper sheds light on three crucial features of contemporary trends of UN peace support operations – (a) technological development and its impact on UN peacekeeping, (b) the growing trend of regionalism in peacekeeping operations, and (c) the UN’s role in countering violent extremism (CVE). The paper argues that technological changes, regional powers in peacekeeping and threats of violent extremism are critical factors to understanding the complex nature of peace support operations. The changing patterns of peace operations highlight that robust peace enforcement as opposed to conventional peacekeeping is the emerging trend. Enforced peace requires cautious, but also a positive approach by the stakeholders to accommodate changing patterns of peace operations.

State Interest and International Legitimacy in Coercive Peace Operations Under the Aegis of International Organizations

The process of legitimizing peace coercive operations by international organizations is described. The focus is on the coercive peace operations in accordance with the norms and principles of the UN Charter and military interventions. The interdependence between coercive peace operations and mechanisms for legitimizing the actions of a state or a coalition of states during such operations through the mediation of international intergovernmental global and regional organizations is highlighted. However, it became clear that the aggravation of the domestic political situation in the host country due to its escalation into conflict becomes a pretext for raising a question before an authorized international organization about the start of such operations by a state or a coalition of states. At the same time, the decisive factor is the compliance of such operations with norms and principles of the United Nations Charter on coercion for peace and peacekeeping. Most of such operations started after the decision of the UN or other regional international organizations. Foreign military interventions with questionable legitimacy usually began military interventions and only then did attempts to legitimize decisions, as a rule, by regional organizations, and sometimes UN. Despite the fact that such interventions were often preventive or part of a larger peace-enforcement operation, the issue of obtaining a mandate for its implementation from international organizations remained the important element of the policy initiators of such interventions. Key words: United Nations Organization; international regional organization; coercive peace operation; foreign military intervention; international legitimacy.

Varieties of political rhetorical reasoning: norm types, scorekeepers, and political projects

AbstractHow does rhetoric work in the pursuit of political projects in international relations? This article analyzes how rhetoric-wielding political actors engage in reasoning to bolster their position by drawing upon norms that underwrite interactions, and audiences as scorekeepers evaluate the reasoning by making a series of inferences. I call this mechanism rhetorical reasoning. Building on the existing classification of norms in constructivist international relations (IR) and utilizing three distinct norm types – instrumental, institutional, and moral – I show the different processes through which political actors deploy rhetoric to legitimize and justify political projects and the distinct logics through which scorekeepers make inferences and evaluate the project. This article contributes to IR theories of argumentation by providing a sharp conceptualization of political rhetoric and actor–audience relationships in the game. I illustrate the mechanism of rhetorical reasoning using Brazil's UN peace enforcement operation in Haiti in 2004 to give empirical evidence for the role of institutional norm type in patterns of rhetorical reasoning and contestations in international politics. Paying attention to political rhetoric in the actor–scorekeepers' relationships in this way clarifies important issues regarding the varieties of political projects and the different role of normativity in the game.

From disaggregated findings to „bigger picture“ and spatial modeling implications in peacekeeping research. Reply to „Violence reduction or relocation“ by Laura Peitz and Gregor Reisch

The article “Violence reduction or relocation” by Laura Peitz and Gregor Reisch examines how local variation in the presence of peacekeepers influences violence in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This reply first discusses the authors’ contributions to existing peacekeeping literature, then highlights its practical relevance and finally suggests three avenues for future research. The first contribution is the sophisticated differentiation of peacekeeping troops by their force projection capacity, which existing quantitative research tends to ignore. The second contribution is the comparison between peacekeepers’ effects on events of armed fighting to their effects on one-sided violence against civilians, showing that unarmed observers are more successful in civilian protection than we previously thought. The third contribution is an analysis of how peacekeepers geographically shift violence away from peacekeeping bases, going beyond the conventional focus on analysing direct effects in peacekeepers’ deployment locations. Together, these insights point to at least three avenues for future research. First, the finding of spatial displacement effects calls for a re-assessment of the overall local effectiveness of peacekeeping operations in reducing violence. Second, examining how mandate modifications, especially the move to offensive peace enforcement operations, influence peacekeeping effectiveness deserves more attention. Finally, the article uses novel, spatially disaggregated data on violence and peacekeeping. Analysing these data refines our knowledge on local peacekeeping practices, but also opens room for new spatial modeling techniques and warrants careful thinking of realistic counterfactuals in order to correctly interpret the substantive effects of local peacekeeping deployment.

ECOWAS and Military Group (ECOMIG): Force to Reckon With in Peace Enforcement and Stabilization Operations in West Africa: A Case of the Gambian 2016–2017 Political Crisis

Efforts at minimizing the barrage of security problems in West African states still remains a serious challenge facing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); and despite the forthright initiatives of the Organization in regional integration and maintenance of peace and security, incidents of violent conflicts appear persisting in various West African states. The bane of the study however, examines the effectiveness of the ECOWAS using its military group (ECOMIG) that was briefly put up in January, 2017 in maintaining peace and stable security in political crisis in the Gambia, a West African state. The theoretical framework employed for the study is elite theory. The study thoroughly examines roles of the ECOWAS and its military group (ECOMIG) in restoring peace and security in the Gambia during and after the post-election crisis that rocked the state. A documentary research design is used for the study. Findings in the study indicate that: the ECOWAS and ECOMIG played significant roles in resolving the political crisis and reducing the spate of violent conflicts that could have engulfed the Gambia during the recent political crisis and West Africa at large; and for the ECOWAS to be truly effective in peace and security maintenance through its military tool (ECOMIG), efforts must be geared towards making member states comply with the Organization’s directives; that it has to be fully ready to solve problems and; that it has a built-in ability to become an efficient player in peace and security maintenance in West Africa but faces unbending challenges which can only be decimated with extensive external support. The study concludes that the major challenge of the ECOWAS in maintaining regional integration with peace and security in West African region, is to prove that West Africans are capable of resolving their own inadequacies.

The International Context of Wars in the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1991–1995)

The article attempts to explain the reasons of the Yugoslav tragedy, which claimed about 300,000 lives and led to the displacement of more than 2 million people. The author boils the answer down to the simplified and biased Western interpretation of the in-fluence of Balkan history on the situation after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), systemic uncertain-ty in European and transatlantic relations after the end of the Cold War, adventurous and irresponsible behaviour of the leaders of several independent countries established on the ruins of the former SFRY, inadequate reaction of the United States of America (US) and NATO to the crisis, Europeans’ false initial belief that they will be able to address security challenges in the ‘new’ Europe by their own efforts. The author emphasizes that the settlement of the Yugoslav crisis should have immediately become NATO’s priority. In such a case, Americans and Europeans could have started working together as mediators among different conflicting parties to ensure a peaceful ‘divorce’ of the republics. However, Washington did not want to see this. The US attitude to the Yugoslav crisis in 1990–1992 undermined the foundations of the declared policy of NATO’s central role in Europe after the Cold War, which envisaged the responsibility of the Alliance for resolving the Balkan conflict. The author argues that if the deployment of an international peacekeeping contingent in the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions takes an expressive form, Kyiv will need to carefully examine the factual background of the events in the former SFRY. This should help avoid many of the complications that arose during the peace enforcement operation in the Balkans in the first half of the 1990s. Keywords: NATO, Balkans, SFRY, Yugoslav tragedy, USA.

The Evolution of Defence Forces Peacekeeping Operations

On 28 June 2018 at a ceremony in Dublin Castle attended by President Michael D. Higgins, the state marked the 60th anniversary of Defence Forces participation on United Nations led or mandated peacekeeping operations. Since its first five peacekeepers deployed to Lebanon in 1958 the Defence Forces have had an unbroken record of participation on such operations. This paper traces the evolution of these operations from the traditional peacekeeping of the Cold War, to the development of regional peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations during the 1990s, to today's multidimensional peace support and crisis management operations throughout Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans.

Soldiers, Civilians and Peacekeeping – Evidence and False Assumptions

ABSTRACTThe assumption that peacekeeping requires soldiers carrying weapons is widespread; 35 years of successful peacekeeping by unarmed civilians is often overlooked. The original definition of peacekeeping is being confused with peace enforcement and peace operations. Limited interest has led to underfunding of unarmed civilian peacekeeping (UCP) with fewer resources for both study and praxis. Marginalization of civilian peacekeeping has restricted the options for complex interventions; this reduced vision of peacekeeping is open to challenge in the light of evidence from the field. This paper first examines what is meant by peacekeeping and UCP. The relationship of UCP to nonviolence, feminism, and peace studies is considered. The constraints and limits of peacekeeping by armed military personnel during, or after, violent conflict are outlined. The core tasks of peacekeeping are analysed, and evidence from the field is presented to show that these core tasks can be (and have been) successfully undertaken by unarmed civilians for three decades, world-wide. The argument that armed military personnel are necessary, even essential, for peacekeeping is not supported by the evidence of civilian success in undertaking the core tasks. The paper ends with conclusions and a call for a new paradigm for peacekeeping.

VI. Netherlands Defence and Security Policy: Coping with the ‘New Normal’?

Life for European defence planners has, regrettably, become relatively straightforward since 2014. From 1990 to 2014, security and defence policy development in the Netherlands – informed by both a transatlantic and European mind-set – tended to closely follow NATO and EU thinking. Future risks to European interests, and Dutch interests, were associated with the arc of instability: that would be the future operational environment for which the Dutch military needed to prepare. The main focus of Dutch security and defence policy up to 2014 was the promotion of the rule of international law and the deployment of the armed forces in peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations around the world. Internal debates ensued within the Ministry of Defence leadership about spending priorities. The Ministry of Defence is forced to limit its ambitions to restore the combat readiness of units, their personal equipment, combat-support capabilities, and weapon systems, all of which have suffered from years of intense deployments and increased wear and tear.

Peace enforcement in Africa: Doctrinal distinctions between the African Union and United Nations

ABSTRACTWhen the United Nations (UN) Security Council needs to authorize a peace enforcement operation in Africa, its partner of choice is the African Union (AU). Africa has developed significant peace operations capacity over the past decade. In addition to deploying eight AU operations, Africa now contributes 50% of all UN peacekeepers. African stability operations, like its mission in Somalia, are often described as peace enforcement operations. In this article, I question whether it is accurate to categorize African stability operations as peace enforcement? I answer the question by considering what the criteria are that are used to differentiate between peace enforcement and peacekeeping operations in the UN context. I then use the peace enforcement criteria to assess whether AU stabilization operations would qualify as peace enforcement operations. In conclusion, I consider the implications of the findings for the strategic partnership between the AU and the UN.

Hybrid Regional Order

The un peace operations have undergone significant revisions to calibrate mission mandates in tandem with emerging threats to international peace and security, especially non-traditional security (nts) threats that stem from governance challenges. These multidimensional missions essentially perform statebuilding interventions (sbis) through capacity-building programmes. The future of these missions depends on negotiated political settlements that facilitate the creation of accountable institutions and inclusive societies. Scholars debate the future of un peace missions, especially as it relates to stabilization operations. On the one hand, are the “narrowers” who believe that peace operations should remain focused on stabilizing state authorities. On the other hand, are the “broadeners” who favor people-focused stabilization operations. This article argues for a broad approach. Focusing on the role of regional organizations under Chapter viii of the un Charter, it argues that successive failures by the African Union to implement its doctrinal instruments, particularly the Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development Policy, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance and the Common African Defence and Security Policy has narrowed its peace interventions in Africa to peace enforcement operations. To be relevant, the African Union needs to focus on the challenges of governance in Africa.

Delegating Peace Enforcement Missions- But to Whom? What the U.N.'s Recent Recommendation Reveals About Today's Crisis in Legitimate Actors for Robust Peace Operations

This Essay argues that in assessing whether or not to move towards the U.N. panel’s proposed model that champions regional actors and ad hoc coalitions over the U.N. itself, the international community must weigh the marginal costs and benefits of this plan. This essay follows the U.N. panel’s call for the international community to derive lessons from the past by examining three case studies where regional actors and ad hoc coalitions, rather than the U.N., have embarked on peace enforcement missions. It argues that if the international community chooses to follow the U.N. panel’s recommendation on deferring to regional actors or ad hoc coalitions, it should prepare for fewer peace enforcement operations, of shorter duration, and at times motivated by regional politicking. The international community should also be aware that the benefits of the panel’s recommendation—swift and decisive action and a somewhat increased ability for the U.N. to adhere to its principles of consent, impartiality, and nonuse of force—will be counter-balanced by fewer controls on regional actors’ profiteering and human rights abuses and a lack of guarantee as to the length of the mission.

The Legality of the Use of Private Military and Security Companies in un Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement Operations

Outsourcing military and security services to the private sector is an emerging trend under international law. The shift to using private military and security companies (pmscs) in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan has brought attention to the role that these companies may play in fulfilling functions that are normally monopolised by States or international organisations. The reliance of the un on pmscs has increased considerably in recent years, leading to the question of the legality of their use in various un operations. This paper focuses on two main aspects of the un’s use of such companies; (i) The engagement of pmscs in peacekeeping operations, either when hired by the un directly or when hired by a State and subsequently seconded to the un; and (ii) The participation of pmscs in peace enforcement measures adopted by the un Security Council according to Chapter vii of the un Charter. This paper argues that the use of pmscs in peacekeeping operations is lawful under international law, while their use in peace enforcement operations is not.

Kosovo and Timor-Leste

Why do some states transition, with foreign assistance, from “fragile” to “robust”? Scholars in state-building have argued that neotrusteeship is an effective strategy by which external organizations might build postconflict states. This article tests this hypothesis, and two related propositions, in a paired comparison of Kosovo and Timor-Leste. The two states are similar in many respects and both experienced regional peace enforcement operations to end violent conflict, followed by massive neotrusteeship operations. They have had divergent results, however, in postconflict state-building: while the state and economy are gradually becoming stronger in Timor-Leste, the same cannot be said of Kosovo, which continues to be plagued by high unemployment, low growth, corruption, and organized crime. I argue that many of Kosovo’s problems can be traced back to the strategy of dividing international responsibility for neotrusteeship operations.

The Law of International Responsibility and Multilayered Institutional Veils: The Case of Authorized Regional Peace-Enforcement Operations

This short article sheds some light on the difficulties inherent in the application of international responsibility mechanisms to situations of authorized regional uses of force. It shows the extent to which the double institutional veil that characterizes these situations comes to frustrate the applicability of the specific provisions designed by the International Law Commission to address these situations. It argues that the way some of the articles on the responsibility of international organizations operate and their conditions of application create inconclusiveness which make the narratives accompanying these operations and how they are presented determinative of the functioning of the law of responsibility.

The South African Defence Force and Horse Mounted Infantry Operations, 1974-1985

The South African Defence Force (SADF) made effective use of the horse mounted soldier in the Namibian Independence War or ‘Border War’, 1966 to 1989, in Namibia (South West African) and Angola, in a conflict usually depicted as a series of high profile mechanised infantry operations. Nevertheless, the legacy of the horse-mounted infantryman of the South African War era commando was evident in this unit, which proved competent in the counter-insurgency patrol in the Area of Operations, and subsequently domestic deployment during civilian struggle during the State of Emergency. This article offers an exploration of the Potchefstroom Equestrian Centre’s contribution to horse and rider training and the military use of horses in counterinsurgency and urban peace enforcement operations in the period c.1974-1985.