A price for peace: troop contributing countries' responses to peacekeeper fatalities. Issue 6 (2nd November 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- A price for peace: troop contributing countries' responses to peacekeeper fatalities. Issue 6 (2nd November 2021)
- Main Title:
- A price for peace: troop contributing countries' responses to peacekeeper fatalities
- Authors:
- Oestman, Jared
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: How do states respond to fatalities of their troops in UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs)? Recent research highlights that participation in peacekeeping is costly for most states. Personnel fatalities should create further costs for contributors and often result in a reduction of their commitments. Studies that evaluate this expectation yield mixed findings. One finds no evidence that OECD countries provide fewer personnel to UN PKOs following fatalities. In contrast, another finds that fatalities generally correspond with reductions in states' personnel commitments to UN operations in Africa but also reveals that wealthier contributors tend to withdraw at larger magnitudes than their poorer counterparts. This study builds on this work by further hypothesizing that the incentives that motivate states to participate in PKOs condition their willingness to maintain their contributions after experiencing fatalities. An analysis of states' troop fatalities and commitments to 41 UN operations from 1990 to 2015 supports this expectation. States that are contiguous to an operation, which face greater concerns about the externalities of nearby conflicts, and states that receive side payments for their troop commitments, via foreign aid, are more willing to maintain their commitments in response to fatalities of their troops than other contributors. Additional findings suggest that non-contiguous contributors that do not receive side payments are also inclined to withdrawABSTRACT: How do states respond to fatalities of their troops in UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs)? Recent research highlights that participation in peacekeeping is costly for most states. Personnel fatalities should create further costs for contributors and often result in a reduction of their commitments. Studies that evaluate this expectation yield mixed findings. One finds no evidence that OECD countries provide fewer personnel to UN PKOs following fatalities. In contrast, another finds that fatalities generally correspond with reductions in states' personnel commitments to UN operations in Africa but also reveals that wealthier contributors tend to withdraw at larger magnitudes than their poorer counterparts. This study builds on this work by further hypothesizing that the incentives that motivate states to participate in PKOs condition their willingness to maintain their contributions after experiencing fatalities. An analysis of states' troop fatalities and commitments to 41 UN operations from 1990 to 2015 supports this expectation. States that are contiguous to an operation, which face greater concerns about the externalities of nearby conflicts, and states that receive side payments for their troop commitments, via foreign aid, are more willing to maintain their commitments in response to fatalities of their troops than other contributors. Additional findings suggest that non-contiguous contributors that do not receive side payments are also inclined to withdraw troops in response to upticks in organized violence surrounding a mission as well as fatalities of other contributors' troops. These results illustrate that the motives that states face to participate in PKOs also affect their willingness to maintain their troop commitments as their costs for participation increase. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- International interactions. Volume 47:Issue 6(2021)
- Journal:
- International interactions
- Issue:
- Volume 47:Issue 6(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 47, Issue 6 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 47
- Issue:
- 6
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0047-0006-0000
- Page Start:
- 986
- Page End:
- 1015
- Publication Date:
- 2021-11-02
- Subjects:
- Peacekeeping -- peacekeeper fatalities -- troop deployments -- foreign policy
International relations -- Research -- Periodicals
327 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/gini20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/03050629.2021.1959327 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0305-0629
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4541.431000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 21355.xml