Peace Operations Seen from Below: UN Missions and Local People

by Pouligny,Beatrice

• ISBN13: 9781565492240
• ISBN10: 1565492242
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-06-01
• Publisher: Lynne Rienner

Summary

* Explores many ways local populations think about and respond to peacekeepers * Timely reflection on nature of peacekeeping operations, occupation, and conflict resolution or escalation * Engagingly written, suitable for undergraduate level courses Cambodia, Somalia, Mozambique, El Salvador, Bosnia, Haiti, Sierra Leone: all have been the subject of interventions by UN peacekeeping forces sent to stabilize these societies torn by political and ethnic conflict. Yet little is known or has been investigated about how local inhabitants interact with and respond to peacekeepers in their midst. In Peace Operations Seen From Below, Béatrice Pouligny argues that much of what is being rebuilt in societies emerging from war 'or in some cases what is continuing to be destroyed'often lies in the 'ordinary' daily lives of both local populations and the staff of UN peacekeeping missions. Pouligny's close analysis of UN interventions, based on first hand observation of how local people intermingle with UN soldiery and civilians, sheds light on a neglected but crucial dimension of international peace enforcement. By foregrounding the experiences of 'ordinary' people, she renders visible those who are often hidden within the fog of both war and peace.

Author Biography

Beatrice Pouligny is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI - Sciences Po) and a professor at IEP (the Institute of Political Science).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xviii
Acronyms	p. xxi
Introduction: The United Nations between War and Peace	p. 1
The New Forms of Peace Operations	p. 1
Over-ambitious mandates	p. 3
Peace operations in wartime	p. 6
Short-term agendas and exit strategies	p. 8
UN roles in the peace process	p. 11
International Visions of War and Peace	p. 13
Consequences of the end of the bipolar order	p. 14
Cloudy perceptions of conflicts	p. 20
The naming game: how the 'international community' qualifies a crisis	p. 25
Local Geography of UN peace operations	p. 27
Very partial deployments	p. 28
Variations according to categories of staff	p. 30
Some methods of deployment may reinforce divisions	p. 32
The Various Faces of Local Populations	p. 42
The Sphere of Political, Military and Economic Entrepreneurs	p. 44
A variety of political interpretations	p. 45
Shifting alliances between political and military actors	p. 57
Economic entrepreneurs	p. 64
Indigenous 'Civil Societies'	p. 67
Formal social organisations	p. 69
Community actors	p. 75
Religious actors: a specific case	p. 81
'Local' Employees of UN Operations	p. 87
How to become a UN local employee	p. 89
Why does one seek a job in a UN mission?	p. 91
Intermediaries? Informers? Collaborators?	p. 92
Peacekeepers and Local Societies: the Encounter and its Effects	p. 96
Different Interpretations of a Peace Operation's Mandate	p. 96
Representations of 'order' and 'peace'	p. 96
Sizing up the aims of a United Nations mission	p. 109
Signals sent during operations by peace missions	p. 113
'They themselves do not know what their mandate is'	p. 118
Missions' (in)Capacity to carry out their Mandates	p. 123
The weight of the word: how the UN is hindered by its member states	p. 123
Discords in the 'international community' on the ground	p. 128
Internal divisions within operations: the micro-sociology of UN missions according to local actors	p. 131
Peacekeepers Lost in Complex Environments	p. 141
Defects in intelligence service and analysis capacity	p. 141
The failures of missions' information policies to target local societies	p. 147
'Intervention' and 'Sovereignty': the View from Below	p. 155
The History of Relations with the outside World	p. 156
Figures of Intervention	p. 162
Factors of Mobilisation against the UN	p. 171
The aims of anti-UN movements	p. 173
When peacekeepers become oppressors	p. 175
Conditions for effective development of mobilisation	p. 178
Ideas of 'Legitimacy' and 'Impartiality' Redefined by Local Conditions	p. 180
Strategies of Local Actors	p. 189
What Local Actors Expect from the UN	p. 190
UN legitimation	p. 190
The UN grants access to additional material resources	p. 196
Compromising the UN: making the mission an ally	p. 207
The UN as an alibi and a scapegoat	p. 214
Highly Volatile Balance of Power	p. 217
Why references to figures of 'spoilers' do not add up	p. 217
How local actors pressure the UN	p. 224
Neither 'Indifferent' nor 'Apathetic': Why local communities protect themselves from the Peacekeepers	p. 234
Forgotten Promises: How the UN Pretends to Achieve Peace	p. 238
The Limits of Imposed 'Procedural Democracy' in Post-War Societies	p. 239
The Political Non-Sense of Most Economic Reconstruction Programs	p. 246
Ambiguities of Peacekeepers' Role in Maintaining 'Law and Order'	p. 250
The Forgotten Dimensions of 'Justice' and 'Reconciliation' Programs	p. 259
Conclusion	p. 270
Select Bibliography	p. 277
Index	p. 289
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