Implementation in practice: The use of force to protect civilians in United Nations peacekeeping
Since the failures of the United Nations of the early 1990s, the protection of civilians has evolved as a new norm for United Nations peacekeeping operations. However, a 2014 United Nations report found that while peacekeeping mandates often include the use of force to protect civilians, this has routinely been avoided by member states. What can account for this gap between the apparently solid normative foundations of the protection of civilians and the wide variation in implementation? This article approaches the question by highlighting normative ambiguity as a fundamental feature of international norms. Thereby, we consider implementation as a political, dynamic process where the diverging understandings that member states hold with regard to the protection of civilians norm manifest and emerge. We visualize this process in combining a critical-constructivist approach to norms with practice theories. Focusing on the practices of member states’ military advisers at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and their positions on how the protection of civilians should be implemented on the ground, we draw attention to their agency in norm implementation at an international site. Military advisers provide links between national ministries and contingents in the field, while also competing for being recognized as competent performers of appropriate implementation practices. Drawing on an interpretivist analysis of data generated through an online survey, a half-day workshop and interviews with selected delegations, the article adds to the understanding of norms in international relations while also providing empirical insights into peacekeeping effectiveness.
Kvifor forhandle fred? Ein analyse av forhandlingsstart i den væpna konflikten i Colombia
Konflikten i Colombia har i mange tiår vore tilsynelatande uløyseleg. Trass i mange fredsforsøk har den alltid blussa opp att. I denne artikkelen forsøker eg å forklare starten på forhandlingane i 2012 mellom den colombianske staten og FARC, den største geriljagruppa i landet. Drange hevdar den fundamentale forklaringa på at dei nådde forhandlingsbordet, ligg i den militære svekkinga av FARC på 2000-talet, som gjorde at geriljagruppa gradvis såg det naudsynt, for i det minste å nå nokre av måla sine, å slutte konflikten gjennom forhandlingar. Den nest viktigaste faktoren er endringa i leiarskapet i Colombia, der den nyvalde presidenten Juan Manuel Santos i 2010 såg ei politisk løysing som mogleg og meir attraktiv enn forgjengaren og tok pragmatiske grep for å skape ein levedyktig prosess. Også tredjepartar bidrog til sjølve gjennomføringa av ein trygg og hemmeleg prosess samt til tillit til prosessen. Forhandlingsstart i 2012 vert – ved bruk av structured focused comparison – samanlikna med fredsdialogen i Caguán (1999–2002) mellom dei same partane, der partane ikkje byrja forhandlingar. Case-studiar som denne kan hjelpe oss å forstå dynamikkar bak kvifor væpna aktørar vel ei politisk løysing på ein væpna konflikt. Forhandlingsstart, som Drange analyserer, må ikkje likestillast med fredsavtale eller slutten på konflikten, men kan gje oss viktige svar på kor væpna aktørar sin motivasjon til å forhandle kjem frå, og under kva tilhøve denne motivasjonen kan bringe partane til forhandlingsbordet.
Predictive peacekeeping: opportunities and challenges
The time is ripe for the development of a UN early warning tool that estimates the likelihood of instability, intercommunity clashes and armed violence in areas in which UN peacekeepers operate. However, this development would require at least some initial collaboration between the UN and the scientific world. Scientists have developed advanced analytical tools to predict armed violence in recent years.1 Yet, these conflict prediction tools still cannot be utilized to their full potential because of a relatively poor quality of conflict data. It is precisely in the area of high quality conflict data that the UN has a strong comparative advantage,2 especially now that the Situational Awareness Geospatial Enterprise (SAGE) system is being implemented. SAGE is a web-based database system that allows UN military, police and civilians in UN peace operations (both UN peacekeeping operations and special political missions) to log incidents, events and activities. The development of SAGE has made it possible to leverage state of the art methodological tools to enable predictive peacekeeping. This policy brief provides background to the recent turn to using data in UN peacekeeping missions, suggestions for what an early warning tool based on SAGE data would look like, and discusses the practical and ethical challenges of such an early warning tool.