United Nations Stabilization Mission Research Articles

How peacekeeping has reshaped Latin America

Abstract The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, 2004–2017) was an unprecedented effort of Latin American peacekeeping. Nine countries contributed the majority of troops to the mission in which regional governments sought to handle a security crisis in their neighbourhood rather than leaving the lead to western countries. However, when the mission came to an end after thirteen years, peacekeeping faded from the regional and national security agendas, with the exception of Uruguay. How and why did MINUSTAH impact the region's current hesitation to engage in peace operations? To answer this question, the article draws on assemblage theory and uses data from policy documents, academic literature and previous research on peacekeeping in Latin America. I argue that contrary to what Latin America's current, limited peacekeeping engagement suggests, MINUSTAH produced significant changes in the region's political landscape. While these could have paved the way to greater involvement in peace operations, however, parallel developments shaped Latin American security policies and military planning at the expense of the region's future participation in UN peacekeeping. The article adds to existing scholarship by probing the conditions that drive the temporality of assemblages and provides a new perspective on Latin American peacekeeping.

Assembling intelligence in United Nations peacekeeping: between transformation and path dependency

Abstract This article traces the evolution of intelligence in United Nations peacekeeping through a practice-based assemblage lens. We address a gap in the literature by transcending the focus on ‘peacekeeping intelligence’ as merely an evolving policy instrument. Instead, we employ an ‘analytic of assemblage’ that reveals the intrinsic ambiguity of both the concept of peacekeeping intelligence, and the related competing perspectives as well as forms of expertise among stakeholders. We select the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC, 1960–1964), the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, 2004–2017), and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA, 2013–2023) as cases to reconstruct the historical evolution of intelligence within peacekeeping. Our analysis reveals profound tensions between efforts to transform intelligence for broader goals like the protection of civilians, on the one hand, and the persistent dominance of military knowledge and tactical priorities in its implementation, on the other. We convey the enduring predominance of military priorities shaping intelligence practices across spatio-temporal contexts, grounded in historical legacies of doctrinal developments, training and regional collaborations. The analysis thereby highlights the interplay between contingency and the influence of enduring power structures in shaping the evolving peacekeeping assemblage. This offers a perspective that links assemblage approaches with the analysis of not only emergence but also path dependency influenced by historical and geopolitical contexts and suggests that strengthening such analytical link holds wider potential for advancing contributions of assemblage approaches to critical security studies.

Organizational affective commitment effects on militaries’ well-being during a deployment: A study of a peacekeeping mission

ABSTRACT Based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, this longitudinal study analyzes the contribution of organizational affective commitment during the preparation phase of a peacekeeping mission (T1) to explain the well-being of soldiers during that mission (T2). A sample of 409 Brazilian army participants in the MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) was used in two waves – preparation of the troops in Brazil, and their deployment in Haitian territory. The data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. The results supported organizational affective commitment during the preparation phase (T1) positively predicting the general well-being (perception of health and general satisfaction with life) of these soldiers during the deployment phase (T2). The workplace well-being (i.e. work engagement) of these peacekeepers was also found to mediate this relationship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.

Civil-military relations as a ‘coordination problem’? doctrine development and the multiple ‘missions’ of the Brazilian Armed Forces

ABSTRACT As the Brazilian Armed Forces are increasingly deployed outside the realm of defence against external threats (in tasks such as peacekeeping, public security, and migration management), military doctrine on Civil-Military Coordination and Cooperation (CIMIC) has emerged as a body of ‘technical knowledge’ which would support their interactions with various civilian actors. This is expressed in frequent demands by military officers for the development of a ‘Brazilian CIMIC doctrine’ reflecting both the accumulated knowledge of international partners, such as NATO and the UN, and their own experience in the ‘field’, as in their recent engagement in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). We argue that the progressive institutionalization of CIMIC military doctrine recently observed in the country reinforces a perspective according to which several domains of action traditionally attributed or led by civilian actors are seen as a legitimate part of the so-called ‘mission’ of the Brazilian Armed Forces. As a result, political disputes concerning civil-military relations and the role of military organizations outside the realm of external defence are reduced to technical challenges of coordination and cooperation between military officials, civilian state agencies and the Brazilian society. In this article, we discuss this trend by analysing the development of military doctrine on CIMIC within the Brazilian Army, and its connections with their increasing engagement in peacekeeping, public security, and migration management at home and abroad.

"It's because We are 'Loose Girls' That's why We had Children with MINUSTAH Soldiers": A Qualitative Analysis of Stigma Experienced by Peacekeeper-Fathered Children and Their Mothers in Haiti.

Sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA) perpetrated by UN peacekeepers while on mission is a violation of human rights and undermines the goal of upholding human rights in countries that host peacekeeping missions. In addition to survivors, children fathered by peacekeepers are also victims of SEA that need protection. Stigma poses negative life course consequences for SEA survivors and their peacekeeper-fathered children. However, there is a considerable lack of empirical research concerning the stigma experiences of SEA survivors and their children in post-colonial contexts. The present study addresses this knowledge gap by drawing on The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti as a case study to examine the lived experiences of stigma among SEA survivors and their resultant children. Using 18 qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in 2017 with Haitian women raising peacekeeper-fathered children, we organized qualitative codes according to Link and Phelan's conceptual model of stigma. The stigmatization process was explored through the themes of labeling, stereotyping, separation, and status loss and discrimination, as described by Link and Phelan. In addition, we nuanced the lived experiences of stigma by discussing the buffering roles of familial acceptance, skin phenotype, and the Haitian context. The findings have implications for the UN. We advocate that stigma be recognized and acted upon as a fundamental protection concern for SEA survivors and their children. Accordingly, the UN has an obligation to provide stigma-related supports for victims and complainants as well as to facilitate long-term child support for the children left behind by peacekeepers.

Do Haiti ao Planalto: os militares e a relação com a ONU no primeiro ano do governo Bolsonaro

This article aims to analyze the relations between the UN and Bolsonaro government in 2019 in the scope of foreign policy –considering the importance that the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has for the Armed Forces and the international projection of Brazil. The methodology used in this article consists of bibliographical research relating primary and secondary materials (theses, articles, and dissertations) with recent journalistic material on federal management. The result found in this article demonstrates that, despite the divergence between sectors of the federal government regarding the directions of Brazilian foreign policy, due to issues of realignment at the international level, the approximation of the viability of relations with the UN through peace missions it’s not present in the plans of the Executive and the Armed Forces, although the military has prestige for this type of operation.

The Distribution and Consequences of Sexual Misconduct Perpetrated by Peacekeepers in Haiti: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Analysis

During the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), reports of sexual abuse and exploitation and children fathered by peacekeepers were brought forward to the UN. In 2017, a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey was administered by Haitian research assistants using SenseMaker® (Cognitive Edge, Singapore), a rapid data collection tool that allows participants to share a narrative on a topic of interest. In total, 2541 self-interpreted narratives in relation to the experiences of Haitian women and girls vis-à-vis peacekeepers were collected from a convenience sample of Haitian males and females across Haiti. This exploratory secondary data analysis analyzes whether narratives about sexual misconduct perpetrated by MINUSTAH peacekeepers were associated with rural, semi-urban, or urban locations and investigates the relationship between sharing narratives about sexual misconduct and the desire to engage with the UN/MINUSTAH. After adjustment, narratives addressing sexual misconduct were more likely to be shared in rural locations, compared to urban locations (RRrural: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.38). Personal experiences of sexual misconduct were more likely (RRsex: 4.52; 95% CI: 3.34, 6.12) to be associated with rejection of the UN/MINUSTAH, compared to personal narratives of positive/neutral experiences. This research is an empirical steppingstone to understanding the distribution and consequences of peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual abuse and exploitation in Haiti.

BRAZILIAN ARMY LEADERSHIP IN MISSION IN HAITI

The aim of this paper is to analyze the roles and profiles of military leaders required in the context of the Brazilian Army's peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Qualitative research is conducted in the context of the "United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti", from interviews with leaders of the Brazilian Army. The results reveal that the investigated context requires a relational and people-oriented leadership profile, including sensitive to emotional aspects, as well as leaders capable of recovering of collective. Therefore, the leadership authority derives more from the ability of social interaction than from the formal power.

Gender-Stratified Analysis of Haitian Perceptions Related to Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Perpetrated by UN Peacekeepers during MINUSTAH

Feminist scholarship has analyzed the gendered dynamics of national- and international-level risk factors for peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA); however, the gendered dynamics within the host country have not been adequately considered. Using the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) as a case study, this research analyzes gender differences within community-level perceptions of SEA. Using SenseMaker® as a data collection tool, cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative data were collected by Haitian research assistants over an 8-week period in 2017. Participants first shared a narrative in relation to MINUSTAH and then self-interpreted their narratives by noting their perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs on a variety of questions. The self-coded perceptions were analyzed quantitatively to determine patterns, and this was complemented with a qualitative analysis of the narratives. Women/girls were more likely to perceive the sexual interactions as “relationships” compared to Haitian men/boys. Furthermore, women/girls were more likely to perceive the peacekeeper as “supportive”, whereas men/boys conceptualized the peacekeeper as “authoritative”. SEA-related policies/programs, such as the UN Trust Fund in Support for Victims of SEA, should engage with local Haitian actors and consider such nuanced and gendered perceptions to maximize community trust and program efficacy.

“His Future will not be Bright”: A qualitative analysis of mothers’ lived experiences raising peacekeeper-fathered children in Haiti

• Children fathered by peacekeepers are one group of Children Born of War. • We explored the lived experience of raising UN peacekeeper-fathered children in Haiti. • The peacekeeper’s abandonment resulted in intergenerational cycles of poverty. • Single motherhood was navigated by the mothers, who leveraged strength/adaptability. • Novel policies should focus on mitigating the intergenerational poverty experienced. Military presence in fragile settings leads to complex and multifaceted interactions between local women and girls of the host country and foreign military personnel. Children Born of War are one consequence of sexual interactions, whether consensual or not, between foreign armies or peacekeeping forces and women and girls of the host country. One particular group of Children Born of War are children fathered by UN peacekeeping personnel and born to civilian women and girls who reside in countries that host peace operations. Using Haiti and The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) as a case study, this research explores the lived experience of raising children fathered by UN peacekeepers from the perspectives of Haitian mothers. Haitian research assistants conducted eighteen semi-structured interviews in Kreyol with Haitian women raising children fathered by MINUSTAH peacekeepers. We analyzed the interview transcripts using empirical phenomenology to explore major themes related to the mothers’ lived experiences. The lived experience of raising a child fathered by a MINUSTAH peacekeeper was defined by the absent father, single motherhood, intergenerational cycles of poverty, and strength and adaptability. However, the experience of being a mother to a peacekeeper-fathered child in Haiti was influenced by the use of social media to create a visual identity of the father, strategies employed to disclose the child’s identity, and the decision of whether or not to further engage in romantic and sexual relationships with other men. The present research advances the literature on children born of war and contributes new insights toward UN-related policy and program changes that support the life courses of the children and their mothers. Key considerations regarding new directions for policies and programs include employing the life course perspective to secure education as a pathway toward attaining meaningful and sustainable employment for both the mother and the child and supporting the mothers’ disclosures of paternal identity to the children. The UN’s existing trust fund may assist in the development, delivery, and evaluation of resources to support children born of war and their mothers, thereby providing mechanisms for transitional justice.

Haiti, MINUSTAH e democracia: a técnica de governo biopolítico na operação da Organização das Nações Unidas

Resumo: Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a Missão das Nações Unidas para a Estabilização do Haiti (MINUSTAH) como um mecanismo de governo biopolítico e continuidade da prática, por parte das nações tidas como grandes potências ocidentais, de intervenção nos processos políticos haitianos desde sua Independência, em 1804. Para isto, realizamos análise bibliográfica acerca do tema, bem como análises de documentos da Organização das Nações Unidas, de instituições envolvidas na operação e do governo brasileiro. Abordando os conceitos elaborados por Michel Foucault, o trabalho apresenta as diferentes técnicas de governo – como racismo de Estado, dispositivo de polícia e disciplina – utilizadas pelos países estrangeiros nas intervenções no Haiti, ao longo dos séculos XIX, XX e início do XXI, para impor valores democráticos liberais, prescrever condutas ao Estado haitiano e aos indivíduos. Ademais, apontamos os interesses do Brasil em comandar a face militar da MINUSTAH.
 Palavras-chave: MINUSTAH. Biopolítica. Racismo de Estado.

‘They Were Going to the Beach, Acting like Tourists, Drinking, Chasing Girls’: A Mixed-Methods Study on Community Perceptions of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers in Haiti

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has been marred by reports of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) perpetrated against local women/girls. However, there is very limited empirical evidence on the community’s perceptions regarding these sexual interactions. Through a mixed-methods approach, this article examines community experiences and perceptions of SEA, with three prominent themes arising: peacekeepers as tourists, peacekeepers as sexual exploiters and abusers, and peacekeepers as ideal partners. Uruguayan (n = 107, 28.1 per cent) and Brazilian personnel (n = 83, 21.8 per cent) were most commonly named in SEA narratives. We explore how these perceptions of MINUSTAH peacekeepers undermine the purpose and legitimacy of UN peace support operations, and propose strategies to prevent and address peacekeeper-perpetrated SEA.

Chile’s Peacekeeping and the Post-UN Intervention Scenario in Haiti

The defence and foreign policy communities in the Global South should learn from the lessons of security governance that followed the 13-year United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). To better inform the academic and policy debate, this article extrapolates ideas from the case study of Chile, one of the ‘big four’ Latin American peacekeeping providers in Haiti, along with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The article examines Chile’s finished compromise with the MINUSTAH in order to shed light on conflict intervention strategies and its peace operations in Colombia and the Central African Republic. It argues that military policies for peace intervention purposes should undergo a critical reassessment in light of the state steering away from the past use of long-term brute force. Today’s changing security environment favours a set of different human security policies that have become more prevalent for peacekeeping policymaking. Engaging in scenarios of war and peace thus demands a more focused, experienced and tactical use of military and diplomatic resources than governments in the developing countries currently possess.

Brazilian Peacekeeping? Counterinsurgency and Police Reform in Port-au-Prince and Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT Brazil’s role in UN peacekeeping operations has been subject to increasing attention from academics and policy makers alike. While some authors praise Brazil’s engagement in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) as a case of innovative South-South cooperation, others accuse Brazil of using Haiti as a ‘testing ground’ for repressive anti-gang tactics that have subsequently been introduced at home. This article challenges these two dominant views on Brazil’s role in Haiti. Based on a period of six months of fieldwork in Port-au-Prince and interviews with key Brazilian actors, the article draws a parallel between MINUSTAH’s military raids in gang-ruled neighbourhoods coupled with police reform in Haiti, on one hand, and the Pacifying Police Units (Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora) plus the accompanying UPP Social in Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand. It is argued that Brazil’s peacekeeping strategy, at home and abroad, is a mix of coercive and cooperative measures reminiscent of counterinsurgency (COIN) tactics already employed during the French colonial war in Algeria. Moreover, it is shown that policing techniques borrowed from the US are employed to ease the tension between carrots and sticks, notably so in the urban environment in which Brazilian peacekeeping is taking place.

MILITARY EXERCISES AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS OF THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE (2014–2016)

The features of the participation of military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in multinational military exercises held in our country and abroad in 2014–2016 are considered. The occupation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation (RF), the veiled appearance of Russian troops on the territory of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which marked the beginning of the so-called "Hybrid warfare" forced the leadership of our state to intensify contacts with the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and pay considerable attention to multinational training, as within the framework of the Partnership for Peace program. During military exercises («Saber Guardian / Rapid Trident»), «Flaming Thunder», «Flaming Sword», «Anakonda», «Hunter», «Combined Resolve» etc.), military personnel exchange knowledge and combat experience, strengthening partnerships, compatibility, and ability of the military of Ukraine, NATO member states, and their partners to work together. The features of the AFU servicemen's peacekeeping activities at the initial stage of the modern Russian-Ukrainian war (United Nations operations in Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Afghanistan, the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo etc.) are considered. It was stated that during peacekeeping operations, military personnel mainly patrolled the areas of responsibility, transported United Nations (UN) personnel, escorted humanitarian aid, controlled the ceasefire, as well as the withdrawal of troops. Keywords: NATO, Ukraine, Partnership for Peace, international military exercises, peacekeeping operations, Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Brazil’s non-indifference: a case for a feminist diplomatic agenda or geopolitics as usual?

ABSTRACTAt the beginning of the twenty-first century, Brazil took advantage of its economically and politically privileged position to challenge global normative structures. In 2004, the concept of “non-indifference” was integrated into the Brazilian vocabulary of foreign policy, justifying and legitimating the country’s acceptance of the invitation to command the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). On the one hand, non-indifference can be read as a discursive maneuver that enabled Brazil to accommodate its non-interventionist agenda to an old geopolitical game, given the pressure imposed upon “global players” to respond effectively and assertively to threats to international peace and security. On the other hand, the “Brazilian way” could also be seen as an alternative to a highly masculinized geopolitical approach to international security. This paper explores possible limitations, tensions and/or opportunities that emerge from the encounter between a feminist diplomatic agenda and a masculinizing ordering of the international space. It does so by contrasting Brazil’s ambition for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the club of powerful states, with Brazil’s diplomatic and military performance during MINUSTAH, widely evaluated as a success due to characteristics such as solidarity, generosity, flexibility and the “warm conviviality” of Brazilian culture.

Who Owns Haiti? People, Power, and Sovereignty ed. by Robert Maguire and Scott Freeman

Reviewed by: Who Owns Haiti? People, Power, and Sovereignty ed. by Robert Maguire and Scott Freeman Andrea Steinke Who Owns Haiti? People, Power, and Sovereignty. Edited by Robert Maguire and Scott Freeman. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017. ISBN- 13: 9780813064598. US $19.95, paperback. Inspired by the symposium "Who Owns Haiti? Sovereignty in a Fragile State, 2004–2014," held in Washington, DC, in May 2014, this volume gives an excellent overview of the myriad actors challenging and undermining the independence and sovereignty of the Haitian nation, past and present. In a total of ten contributions, the authors uncover the contestations to Haitian sovereignty running a throughline in the country's history. The essays analyze recurrent aid interventions in a country home to the first postwar development project, far-reaching economic structural adjustment programs, and foreign military occupations, all but facilitated by the elite of a predatory Haitian republic capitalizing on the oppression of the majority of the population.1 Edited by Robert Maguire and Scott Freeman, Who Owns Haiti? is a timely contribution to a series of contemporary examinations on sovereignty in the context of Caribbean emancipation, including Yarimar Bonilla's Non-sovereign Futures: French Caribbean Politics in the Wake of Disenchantment (2015) and Karen Salt's Unfinished Revolution: Haiti, Black Sovereignty and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World (2019). Its chapters revolve around a notion of sovereignty that goes beyond purely legalistic definitions of a nation in control of its borders and its monopoly on violence to include such concepts as selfhood, agency, justice, and ownership. The volume at hand proves this approach particularly useful in examining the complexities of contested sovereignties. Assembling authors from a variety of disciplines such as history, anthropology, political sciences, economics, and development studies, Who Owns Haiti? includes a plurality of scholarly perspectives examining the relationalities of Haiti to the world. Historian Laurent Dubois, for example, elaborates on Jean Casimir's concept of the counter-plantation as "a system of engagement that is based on an absolute commitment to maintaining autonomy and dignity" (26), deriving from vivid memories of the colonial atrocities symbolized by the plantation system. Robert Fatton Jr. then uses the world-system approach to describe Haiti as situated at the "outer periphery," subjected to international tutelage and trusteeship, especially with regard to the many aid interventions the country has been forced to succumb to in the past seventy years. In a similar vein, Robert Maguire analyzes US aid to [End Page 309] Haiti during the past decade, focusing on post-2010 earthquake funds, and ends with the grim yet not necessarily unexpected conclusion that the "vast majority of aid ultimately remains in control of non-Haitian entities" (99). Political scientist François Pierre-Louis Jr. offers a take on the role of the Haitian elite, especially in electoral processes, attesting to their lack of will to "govern the country in the interest of and to the benefit of all" (63). The chapter also explores the unfortunate role that the United States, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the United Nations stabilization mission to Haiti, MINUSTAH, have played, particularly in the rise to power of former Haitian president Michel Martelly. Pierre-Louis's contribution also sheds light on the current political crisis in Haiti. Ricardo Seitenfus, the former OAS representative in Haiti, analyses the Brazilian contribution to the UN mission MINUSTAH. The mission to Haiti marked not only a turn from peacekeeping toward stabilization but also a regional turn in UN engagement. The majority of boots on the ground came from Latin American countries. Seitenfus's article depicts Brazil's foreign-policy evolution from "non-interference" to a thirteen-yearlong intense engagement with UN intervention. Throughout the mission, Brazil provided not only the Force Commander but also the largest contingents. The article further shows how "Haiti became a preferential client of the UN Security Council" (82). Who Owns Haiti? concludes with three anthropological contributions. Karen Richman's essay historically analyzes the religious field in Haiti, critically engaging the contested spiritual landscape after Douz Janvye. Scott Freeman and Chelsey Kivland then take a deep dive into ethnographic descriptions of Haitian acts of resisting and appropriating (un)deliberate attempts to undermine...

Uma Abordagem Cognitiva sobre o Haiti: o papel do ambiente psicológico na construção de imagens no contexto da MINUSTAH (2004-2016)

O artigo realiza um estudo sobre o ambiente psicológico do Haiti a partir da interação entre duas variáveis cognitivas: prisma atitudinal e imagem. Nesse sentido, com base na literatura sobre modelo de análise em processo decisório, assumimos a premissa de que elementos cognitivos (como ideias e percepções construídas ao longo da história) são tão importantes na definição de planos de ação quanto as tradicionais variáveis objetivas tais como aporte financeiro. Para tanto, testamos as proposições desse modelo no caso da Missão das Nações Unidas para Estabilização do Haiti (MINUSTAH), de 2004, ano de seu início, até 2016. A partir da análise amostral de discursos presidenciais e, também, de resoluções do mandato da ONU, testou-se a hipótese de que quanto maior for a convergência das imagens entre os tomadores de decisão externos e internos, maiores serão as chances de uma missão de paz, neste caso a MINUSTAH, alcançar seus objetivos.

The geopolitics of Brazilian peacekeeping and the United Nations’ turn towards stabilisation in Haiti

ABSTRACTIn analysing Brazil’s contribution to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), this article assesses the United Nations’ turn towards stabilisation and the role of Latin American actors in this process. This development, we argue, allows the material contributions of Northern intervenors to be downscaled, but at the same time opens up opportunities for the larger contributing states from the Global South. Accordingly, this enables increasingly assertive actors like Brazil, to use UN peacekeeping missions as an opportunity for pursuing their own geopolitical ambitions. In drawing upon the results of empirical fieldwork in Haiti, we point towards the ways in which the UN’s turn towards stabilisation created multiple geopolitical opportunities for Brazil that ultimately converged with the geopolitical interests of Northern actors. On top of this process, this refers in particular to the US and its search for new ways of making peacekeeping-cum-stabilisation more ‘local’, less costly, and more legitimate. This geopolitical convergence of interests, we demonstrate, transformed Haiti into a laboratory for a variety of actors from the US and Brazil that were interested in experimenting with new forms of militarised interventions.

How UN Peacebuilding Unintentionally Incentivizes Local-Level Violence

This paper challenges theoretical and empirical arguments about peacebuilding effectiveness that put the state at the center of United Nations peace operations. The paper draws on evidence from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) from 2013 to 2017. I argue that state-centric UN peacebuilding operations inadvertently incentivize local-level violence in post-conflict zones. I demonstrate that when the UN supports central governments it unintentionally empowers non-professionalized militaries, paramilitaries, and warlords to settle local scores. Armed violence against civilians in turn triggers a vicious cycle of reprisals and counter-reprisals. As an alternative to state-centric peacebuilding operations that incentivize local violence, I suggest that the UN should shift strategic resources away from central governments and toward UN policing, support of traditional and religious authorities, and the training of local security institutions.