In the history of warfare there has been numerous attempts of creating definitions and theories to explain the results and the used methods. Peacekeeping and counterinsurgency are, at the moment, two separate areas of research. They come with an associated debate which includes inquiries such as, how and in what ways they are related to each other.
The purpose of this study is to further examine how peacekeeping operations and counterinsurgency relates to each other through the lens of a public-centric counterinsurgency theory applied on a unit participating in a peacekeeping operation. David Kilcullens theory about the 28 articles is used to represent the perspective of counterinsurgency and the selected case of a peacekeeping unit is the swedish contribution to NORDBAT 2 and their time in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The results indicates that Kilcullens theory of counterinsurgency partially can explain how the swedish unit in the peacekeeping operation functioned before, during and after the operation. The results further indicates that similarities in the relation between peacekeeping operations and counterinsurgency can be identified. Not only on a strategic and political level, but also on a lower level of operations.