Doing less with less? Peacekeeping retrenchment and the UN's protection of civilians agenda. (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Donais, Timothy; Tanguay, Eric
• Is Part Of: International journal. Volume 75:Number 1(2020)
• Page Start: 65
• Page End: 82
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Peacekeeping -- protection of civilians -- UN reform -- Africa -- conflict management; World politics -- Periodicals; Canada -- Foreign relations -- Periodicals; 327.05
• DOI: 10.1177/0020702020915209
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7020

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres's Action for Peacekeeping initiative represents the latest in a series of efforts to make the UN's peace and security architecture "fit for the future." The Action for Peacekeeping initiative, however, has exposed two seemingly contradictory tendencies at work in contemporary peacekeeping. On the one hand, peacekeeping operations are increasingly expected to be lean, efficient, and performance-focused. On the other, expansive protection of civilians (PoC) mandates, which entail everything from predicting and pre-empting attacks against civilians to reforming state-level security institutions, are becoming increasingly central to contemporary peacekeeping. In this paper, we will suggest that as currently framed, the UN's peacekeeping reform agenda—driven at least in part by downward budgetary pressures—will inevitably increase the gap between promise and performance with regard to PoC, with serious implications for the credibility and legitimacy of UN missions among the populations they are mandated to protect.