The Political Practice of Peacekeeping: How Strategies for Peace Operations are Developed and Implemented

Day, Adam, Gorur, Aditi, Holt, Victoria K. and Hunt, Charles T (2020). The Political Practice of Peacekeeping: How Strategies for Peace Operations are Developed and Implemented. United Nations University.

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UNU-CPR Research Papers

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    Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads
    AssessmentTool.pdf Assessment Tool and User's Guide application/pdf 3.50MB
    FullReport-PoliticalPracticeofPeacekeeping.pdf Full Report application/pdf 18.55MB
    OverarchingPaper.pdf Overarching Paper application/pdf 4.88MB
  • Sub-type Research report
    Author Day, Adam
    Gorur, Aditi
    Holt, Victoria K.
    Hunt, Charles T
    Title The Political Practice of Peacekeeping: How Strategies for Peace Operations are Developed and Implemented
    Publication Date 2020-09-11
    Place of Publication New York
    Publisher United Nations University
    Pages 168
    Language eng
    Abstract United Nations University Centre for Policy Research and the Stimson Center, with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, undertook this project to translate the core political commitments of Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) into a set of viable, effective policies and practices. This is the first joint project between UNU-CPR and Stimson Center and draws on reviews of peace operations, interviews with key stakeholders and a comparison across different settings, to describe how mission leaders have translated broad political language into political engagement strategies, Mission Concepts, and approaches across the UN family in-country, with recommendations and resources for decision-making. Drawing on existing methodologies in the social sciences and the development fields, the project has also developed an Assessment Tool with key metrics for peace operations to evaluate their political engagement. The 2018 Action for Peacekeeping Declaration (A4P) commits UN peace operations to pursue political objectives based on integrated strategies and solutions. This emphasis on political solutions echoes the widely-accepted mantra of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO), which proposed that peace operations undergo a fundamental shift towards the primacy of politics. While there is broad agreement on the need to place political outcomes at the centre of peacekeeping, there is little consensus on what “politics” means in practice. This is in part because political engagement is by nature elusive and often opaque, done behind closed doors or within a constellation of other actors. Lacking a common understanding, the UN and its partners have tended to accept the notion of political primacy without interrogating what it means in practice. As a result, the ways in which the UN develops and implements politically-led strategies are poorly understood. The report examines the political practice of peacekeeping, the ways in which missions, the UN Secretariat and the Security Council work to articulate mandated political objectives at a strategic level. Drawing on the internal strategies of peace operations, interviews with senior UN officials involved in peacekeeping, and in-country research by the authors, the report outlines the practices across five major peacekeeping missions today (the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – MONUSCO; the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic – MINUSCA; the United Nations Mission in South Sudan – UNMISS; the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali – MINUSMA; and the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur – UNAMID). On this basis, the report offers evidence-based recommendations for improved mandating by the Council, more effective strategy development by UN Headquarters and missions, and greater impact in the implementation of peacekeeping mandates in the field.
    UNBIS Thesaurus PEACE AGREEMENTS
    PEACEBUILDING
    MAINTENANCE OF PEACE AND SECURITY
    POLITICAL COOPERATION
    GEOPOLITICS
    PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
    Keyword United Nations
    United Nations Security Council
    Peacekeeping
    Peacebuilding
    Political strategies
    Peace missions
    Copyright Holder United Nations University
    Copyright Year 2020
    Copyright type Creative commons
    ISBN 9789280865189
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    Created: Tue, 15 Sep 2020, 23:29:22 JST by Dursi, Anthony on behalf of UNU Centre