Peacekeeping

I. Introduction

One of the greatest threats to peace is the actions of belligerent actors in a state, who thrive on breeding conflict and espousing chaos. It is imperative, then that such intrastate and interstate conflicts can be focused on to bring about peace and ultimately a successful resolution to these issues. Following such conflict, the need for peacekeeping is apparent. How effective the peacekeeping actually is, is a topic that all of the authors discuss. Peacekeeping can be an effective tool when properly employed and with adequate resources and backing. In proving its effectiveness, successes and failures can serve to show how best to employ it and the effects of changing post-war, volatile regions into peaceful ones.

The size, number and scope of peacekeeping missions worldwide have increased substantially in the last several decades. Around the globe, international personnel have been deployed to maintain the peace in war-torn regions. Virginia Page Fortna in Does Peacekeeping Work? contends that in the time periods following civil wars since the Cold War, the most severe conflicts require peacekeeping missions to rebuild and not to lose their footing. Expounding on this notion, Kyle Beardsley offers further introspect into peacekeeping operations in his Peacekeeping and the Contagion of Armed Conflict. Offering still another targeted view of peacekeeping, authors Karen A. Mingst and Margaret P. Karns focus on the relevancy of the United Nations in this endeavor while Jeni Whalen similarly examines the legitimacy, power and success of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

II. Summary

According to Fortna, peacekeeping is used for both peace operations of consent-based and enf...

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...ures to better tailor and adapt their methods to enact peace and increase the duration of peace following periods of violence or war.

Bibliography

Beardsley, K. (2011). “Peacekeeping and the Contagion of Armed Conflict.” The Journal of Politics 73(4): 1051-1064. Southern Political Science Association.

Fortna, V.P. (2008). “Does Peacekeeping Work?: Shaping Belligerents’ Choices after Civil War.” Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Mingst, K.A. and Karns, M.P. (2007). “The United Nations and Conflict Management: Relevant or Irrelevant?” In C. Crocker, F. Hampson & P. Aall (Eds.), Leashing the Dogs of War: Conflict Management in a Divided World (pp.497-520). Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.

Whalan, J. “The Power of Friends: The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.” Journal of Peace Research 47(5): 627-637.