Peacekeeping effectiveness in civil war : national and sub-national analyses / Andrew Levin.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Levin, Andrew, author.

Contributor:

Goldstein, Avery M., degree supervisor.

Horowitz, Michael, degree committee member.

Stanton, Jessica, degree committee member.

Weisiger, Alex, 1977- degree committee member.

University of Pennsylvania. Department of Political Science, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Political science.

Political science--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Political science.

Political science--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

xiii, 323 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania, 2015.

Summary:

How does peacekeeping work? Recent scholarly work has found evidence that, on average, UN peacekeeping operations improve security during and after civil war. However, there has been much less exploration of how peacekeeping contributes to peace. In this dissertation, I challenge the common assumption that the actions of UN soldiers on the ground are critical in reducing violence. Drawing on rational deterrence theory, I posit that peacekeepers' deficits in military capabilities and resolve diminish their credibility at the sub-national level, hindering their ability to deter aggression. Instead, I argue that successful peacekeeping operations occur primarily as a result of the UN's top-down efforts to support national peacebuilding efforts. To test these propositions, I analyze an original georeferenced dataset of sub-national peacekeeping deployment in eight African civil wars during the post-Cold War era, as well as in-depth case studies of UN operations in Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo that I developed from interviews, analysis of existing survey data, and secondary research. Both my statistical and my case study analysis reveal that the presence of peacekeepers does not reduce local-level conflict. Yet, evidence from Burundi and DRC shows that peacekeeping operations can help improve national security by exerting political and economic influence in key arenas, such as electoral administration and countrywide disarmament programs. These findings better illuminate how peacekeeping can be effective, and have important implications for the design and implementation of future UN peacekeeping operations.

Notes:

Ph. D. University of Pennsylvania 2015.

Department: Political Science.

Supervisor: Avery M. Goldstein.

Includes bibliographical references.

OCLC:

951160794