Informal economies' relevance for peacebuilding is widely acknowledged. By providing an alternative interpretation in relation to the view that informality emerges in post-conflict environments due to the state's institutional weakness, this article contends that in Kosovo the principles of informality and its reproduction are inherent to informality itself. The article turns to the analytics of Pierre Bourdieu in order to reveal aspects of Kosovar informality left unexamined by established approaches. It illustrates how intrinsic inequalities and power relations constitute and reproduce informal economic practices throughout a circular rationale. Rather than a direct function of state weakness, informality in Kosovo is an effect of agents' engagement in knowledgeable and everyday practices. Agents' susceptibility contributes to the temporary fixing of meanings and doings that enable differentiations yet also interdependencies between relatively powerful and relatively powerless businesses. The article reflects on the implications of an intrinsic rationale for the politics of informality within peacebuilding operations.
This article examines the necessary conditions behind the decision made by the Government of Sweden to participate with fighter jets in the monitoring of the no-fly zone over Libya in March 2011. The article identifies five explanatory factors whose presence was necessary for Sweden's military contribution: a feeling of moral obligation to intervene on the part of the government; the international legal foundation for the operation; strong leadership provided by NATO; broad parliamentary support; and the availability of military capabilities.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of what the UN itself understands to be its first peacekeeping operation. It is therefore an appropriate time to reflect on the track record of UN peacekeeping in its efforts to try to maintain and realize peace and security. Moreover, this milestone invites us to ponder what lies ahead in the realm of peacekeeping. For this reason, this forum article brings together both academics and UN officials to assess the achievements and challenges of UN peacekeeping over the past 75 years. Through a dialogue among peacekeeping scholars and practitioners, we hope to identify current trends and developments in UN peacekeeping, as well as explore priorities for the future to improve the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations in terms of achieving their mandate objectives, such as maintaining peace, protecting civilians, promoting human rights, and facilitating reconciliation. This forum article is structured into six thematic sections, each shedding light on various aspects of UN peacekeeping: (1) foundational principles of UN peacekeeping - namely, consent, impartiality, and the (non-)use of force; (2) protection of civilians; (3) the primacy of politics; (4) early warning; (5) cooperation with regional organizations; and (6) the changing geopolitical landscape in which UN peacekeeping operates.
This article examines Sweden’s successful 2016 bid to serve at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and shows that the subsequent 2017–18 tenure relied on a formula with three key elements. One was to mobilize the competitive advantages of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and a second to systematically highlight Africa-related priorities. A third element was to boost the standing of the E10 category of members in day-to-day diplomatic practice. After securing a plurality of votes in the General Assembly, Swedish diplomats went to work with a unique constellation of concurrently serving likeminded countries, generally receptive to Stockholm’s priorities. The formula appears to have contributed to a solid performance in 2017–2018. That said, the UNSC is not conducive to individual E10 members having a lasting impact on its institutional memory.
Soldiers' self-images undoubtedly influence the way they recognize, perceive, plan and conduct their tasks. The article examines the self-image of Swedish peacekeepers in the UNMIL mission in Liberia and the UNMIK mission in Kosovo. The findings are based on interviews with 27 soldiers before, during and after deployment. Eleven dimensions of self-image were found, showing that the self-image refers almost entirely to the peacekeeping and not the war-fighting role. In addition, the Swedish soldiers hold themselves to be excellent peacekeepers. Departing from this observation, we discuss three dilemmas in peacekeeping that have implications beyond the Swedish armed forces. The argument is that being less self-referential may make peacekeeping more successful.
This article is based on research that aimed to develop a deeper theoretical understanding of the UN peacekeeping soldiers’ experiences of their daily service, from their own perspective, using a grounded theory approach. Study participants were Swedish UN peacekeeping personnel who served in former Yugoslavia from Autumn 1993 to Autumn 1995. A model was developed, according to which UN peacekeeping soldiers’ experiences of their daily service are formed by the dynamic interplay between external influencing factors and internal peacekeeping force factors. The external factors comprise: the service environment including the parties to a dispute, the media and the soldier's private social network. Most of the soldiers’ responses concerning the environment were about low‐intensity stress and fear of losing control of their aggressiveness. The internal peacekeeping force factors include the recruitment principles, the preparatory training, leadership issues and personal characteristics of the individual soldiers. The model indicates that internal factors can be modified in ways that might make it possible to reduce the impact of the external factors. The generalizability of the model needs to be evaluated in future studies involving different kinds of peacekeeping missions.
This article describes the prototypical peacekeeping soldier and his experiences, based on a sample of all male soldiers serving in mechanized infantry companies in the first four Swedish UN battalions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (N = 1,238). A questionnaire was administered as a part of the demobilization programme. The prototypical peacekeeper is male, 20–25 years old, single, serves in a mechanized infantry company, and is on his first UN mission. Four different types of motives for joining the service were identified. The degree of perceived family support co‐varied strongly with service experiences. Favourable evaluations of the service period were associated with good relations with commanders and peers, perceiving few tasks as boring, but also with a high exposure to stressful events. The positive association with stress exposure may be related to the fact that no Swedish peacekeepers were killed during this period, which in turn probably contributed to experiences of invulnerability among the exposed soldiers while also increasing their social status among peers.
Since the late 1990s, research on peace operations has increasingly taken up strands of globalization theory to explain changes in the nature of international peacekeeping. This article examines the question of how the dynamics of globalization and regional integration have affected South America's role and involvement in peace operations. It argues that a transformational globalization theory helps to explain developments and structural changes in South America's global peace engagement. This theoretical framework allows identification of global trends that link international developments to the changing involvement, experience and role of South America in peace operations: a growing number and diversity of actors in the operational theatre; structural changes in South America's military organizations; an increased willingness to engage in bi- and multilateral cooperation, including training for peace operations; and processes of both fragmentation and integration.
Coherence is a core objective in most multinational interventions and seems of particular relevance to UN peacekeeping missions with their increasing complexity and multidimensionality. Yet, coherence has rarely been studied empirically. We borrow the concept of ‘fit’ from organizational theory and use it to develop a conceptual framework to study coherence in peacekeeping operations. Fit is the degree of match between what is required by the mandate, on the one hand, and an institutional set-up and the implemented practices, on the other. We identify three relevant dimensions of fit to study coherence: strategic and organizational, cultural and human and operational fit. Our empirical material focuses on the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and in particular on the interplay between the intelligence components and the rest of the mission. We draw upon a large empirical dataset containing over 120 semi-structured interviews, field observations and participation in pre-deployment exercises and evaluation sessions. Our empirical analysis suggests that low level of fit across several dimensions leads to inertial and widespread frictions in the practice of peacekeeping and could potentially undermine peacekeeping effectiveness. Building on existing scholarship on micro-level approaches to peacekeeping, we hope to further the debate on organizational dynamics within peace operations.
This study maps reactions activated in peacekeeping personnel by life-threatening situations and explores how these reactions affect psychological functioning. In-depth interviews were carried out with 30 informants from the Swedish peacekeeping force serving in Bosnia between 1993 and 1995. All participants had experienced shooting incidents or other highly threatening events. Two models were formed. A descriptive model structures the content of the interviews according to the phase and type of situation from which they were mainly reported, as well as whether they were mainly reported by officers or privates. A theoretical model forms the basis for a discussion about the individual and situational factors that affect the specific reactions and how their interaction with role expectations affects performance. The informants were generally satisfied with their performance. Two factors associated with lower performance were either that the life-threatening situation implied loss of control or it demanded complex cognitive activity.