David Curran

Cosmopolitan peacekeeping and peacebuilding in Sierra Leone: what can Africa contribute?

The article is organized into two main parts. First, it presents the termination of the conflict in Sierra Leone as a case-study to examine the degree to which cosmopolitan values connecting peacekeeping and peacebuilding are (or are not) evident. The case-study looks at the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) as a model of successful peacekeeping in the sense that everyday security was provided for the people of Sierra Leone through the deployment of a robust peacekeeping mission. This assessment needs to be qualified in relation to serious deficits still to be addressed in post-conflict peacebuilding, yet the success of this mission does provide encouragement for those who see the construction of a cosmopolitan security architecture for Africa as both desirable and achievable. Second, it explores the degree to which an appropriate model of cosmopolitan peacekeeping might emerge at regional and continental levels in Africa through the development of the African Standby Force (ASF). What the case-study presented here and the survey of the African Union (AU)/ASF in the second part of the article have in common is that taken together, they provide some evidence to suggest that, however fragile, the AU is beginning to define an agenda that represents a continent wide and, in that sense at least, a cosmopolitan response to African security issues.

Training for Peacekeeping: Towards Increased Understanding of Conflict Resolution?

The purpose of this article is to outline developments in UN training programmes in negotiation, and civil military coordination. The article seeks to engage positively with critical assessments of peacekeeping and peacebuilding. It demonstrates that by making military peacekeepers aware of non-violent solutions to potentially violent situations (through negotiation skills for instance), and also of the peacekeeping/peacebuilding nexus (for example through civil–military coordination), there are signs of a deepening understanding of principles of conflict resolution by those who run UN peacekeeping structures.

Muddling on through? Cosmopolitan peacekeeping and the protection of civilians

ABSTRACT This article analyses direct forms of the ‘protection of civilians’ (PoC) in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, and how this links to aspirations outlined by cosmopolitan scholarship at the turn of the twentieth century. Its main contention is that cosmopolitan conceptions of peacekeeping, which advocate more active forms of civilian protection, have faced significant challenges in the UN peacekeeping system. These challenges (internal and external) are a result of the state-based nature of the UN, and its peacekeeping practice. Therefore, the UN’s flexibility to adopt ethical practices associated with PoC can only be contained within confined boundaries. The article takes as its starting point the aspirations of cosmopolitan scholarship before outlining policy development in UN peacekeeping concerning PoC. It then explores internal and external challenges faced in operationalizing PoC in UN peacekeeping practice before arguing that the UN may be at a stage where it is ‘muddling through’ in terms of PoC. The article contributes to debates about the role of peacekeeping in global politics, through seeking to understand the possible limits of cosmopolitanism within peacekeeping practice. Moreover, it offers a contemporary understanding of where the UN has developed PoC in its deployments and what challenges remain.

The United Kingdom and United Nations peace operations

ABSTRACT This article analyses the United Kingdom’s (UK) approach to United Nations (UN) peace operations and whether Britain is prepared politically, bureaucratically, financially, and militarily to increase its contributions to them. The article begins with an overview of UK engagement with UN peacekeeping since 1956 before discussing the political issues that govern British decisions about peacekeeping. The third section then assesses several challenges that would need to be addressed in order for the UK’s increased participation in UN missions to be effective. Finally, the article outlines the main factors pushing the UK towards greater engagement with UN peace operations, including opinions voiced by select domestic, international, and institutional audiences.

The European Union and the Third Pillar

This chapter assesses the European Union’s relationship with the pillars of the RtoP, in particular the conceptual desire, political will and capabilities the organization possesses to deploy military assets in situations when a state is “manifestly failing to protect its own population” (United Nations, 2005). In undertaking this analysis, the chapter understands that the RtoP is a wide-reaching norm, encompassing both military and non-military approaches. Through focusing explicitly on the third pillar debate, an important contribution is made to an area where there has been a great deal of speculation but little substantial policy development. Moreover, the author writes in the knowledge that the use of military assets comprises only a small part of the European Union’s foreign policy tools.

Peacekeeping, Conflict Resolution, and the Role of Training

As the introductory chapter outlined, this book aims to understand the role conflict resolution plays in the training for military peacekeepers, and the ways the training of military peacekeepers represents a further manifestation of the links between the two fields. In order to gain a solid conceptual base, this chapter examines where academic texts have noted the need for training in peacekeeping operations. What is drawn from such a survey is the first step towards a multi-levelled synthesis in order to locate where the call for increased conflict resolution training for peacekeepers is coming from, which is complemented by a survey of the ‘policy literature’ in United Nations documentation and practice, and practitioner and academic understandings of civil-military relations, negotiation and cultural awareness.

Towards a Standing UN Force for Peacekeeping

The idea of a standing United Nations (UN) military force to respond rapidly to quell violence or maintain a fragile peace is as old as the UN and there exists a substantial body of research pertaining to the proposed shape and scope of such a force capacity. Proposals have come from within the UN (linked to the moribund Military Staff Committee, see Fabian, Soldiers without enemies: preparing the United Nations for peacekeeping. Brookings Institution, Washington, pp 60–61, 1971), from national governments (the Netherlands, Canada and Denmark), and through proposals from within parliamentary structures, such as the United Nations Rapid Deployment Act, proposed to the US House of Representatives in 2001 (US Congress, United Nations Rapid Deployment Act. Introduced to the House of Representatives 08 March 2001: 07th Congress, 1st Session H. R. 938. United States of America House of Representatives, 2001). More detailed proposals have emanated from governmental think tanks, such as the Royal United Services Institute paper on a “UN Intervention Force” (Codner, Royal United Services Instit J 153(3):62, 2008). The most developed set of proposals for standing peacekeeping capacities have been the series of proposals for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) and have evolved to include force capacities for “protection, security, health and hope” (Langille, Preparing for a UN emergency peace service. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, New York, p 113, 2012).

Civil-Military Relations Training for Military Peacekeepers

This chapter will broaden the analysis of conflict resolution skills in peacekeeping environments to incorporate the development of civil-military relations.

The Development of Training Structures in the United Nations

The chapter is based around the conceptual and structural changes that entered United Nations peacekeeping in the 2000s. The starting point for this was the publication of the ‘Report of The Panel on UN Peace Operations’, more commonly known as the ‘Brahimi Report’ in 2000, and the resultant structural and policy changes. This led to progress in the creation of ‘Principles and Guidelines’ for UN peacekeeping operations, and a re-invigorated training regime.

Towards the Military Conflict Resolution Practitioner

So far, this book has made the case that there is a continued requirement for skills and theory drawn from the conflict resolution field to be incorporated into training programmes for military peacekeepers. This is predominantly in three areas. Firstly, in skills needed for peacekeeping. Negotiation, cultural awareness, understanding needs, and communication skills are all areas where the conflict resolution literature has made significant inroads. The necessity to develop and maintain training programmes in these areas has been identified to assist peacekeepers in a range of activities, from the day-to-day interaction between actors in a post-conflict environment, through to the potentially volatile situations that peacekeepers find themselves in when encountering armed groups.