Taking sides in peacekeeping. Impartiality and the future of the United Nations. / Emily Paddon Rhoads.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rhoads, Emily Paddon, 1982- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United Nations--Peacekeeping forces.

United Nations.

Peacekeeping forces.

World politics.

Local Subjects:

United Nations.

Physical Description:

xii, 250 pages : map ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Corby : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

United Nations peacekeeping has undergone radical transformation in the new millennium. 'Taking Sides in Peacekeeping' explores this transformation and its implications, in what is the first conceptual and empirical study of impartiality in UN peacekeeping. The book challenges dominant scholarly approaches that conceive of norms as linear and static, conceptualizing impartiality as a 'composite' norm, one that is not free-standing but an aggregate of other principles-each of which can change and is open to contestation. Drawing on a large body of primary evidence, it uses the composite norm to trace the evolution of impartiality, and to illuminate the macro-level politics surrounding its institutionalization at the UN, as well as the micro-level politics surrounding its implementation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, site of the largest and costliest peacekeeping mission in UN history. This book reveals that, despite a veneer of consensus, impartiality is in fact highly contested. As the collection of principles it refers to has expanded to include human rights and civilian protection, deep disagreements have arisen over what keeping peace impartially actually means. Beyond the semantics, the book shows how this contestation, together with the varying expectations and incentives created by the norm, has resulted in perverse and unintended consequences that have politicized peacekeeping and, in some cases, effectively converted UN forces into one warring party among many. The author assesses the implications of this radical transformation for the future of peacekeeping and for the UN's role as guarantor of international peace and security.

Contents:

1 The Composite Norm of Impartiality 25

2 From Passive to Assertive Impartiality 46

3 Institutionalization and the Global Politics of Peacekeeping 92

4 Implementation and the Local Politics of Peacekeeping in the Congo 120

5 The Effects of Assertive Impartiality in the Congo 172

6 The Politics of Taking Sides 198.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780198747246

0198747241

OCLC:

929591058