Suchergebnisse

"Peacekeeping as a Tool of Foreign Policy" published on by Oxford University Press.

This brief examines how the motivations and goals of China's participation in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations have evolved since 1990 as a result of China's changing national interests. We conclude that China is unlikely to abandon its long-held foreign policy principle of non-interference. However, motivated by a desire to be seen as a responsible global power, Beijing is seriously considering a more proactive approach to humanitarian crises, which may include direct intervention. Furthermore, as a significant contributor of troops and financing, China is uniquely positioned to represent the perspectives of both developing and developed countries in UN peacekeeping. To do so, Beijing will need to increase its leadership role in UN peacekeeping operations and offer creative ideas about how to promote reconciliation and development in post-conflict societies.

"The Republic of Ireland has won its status as a leading contributor to international peacekeeping operations, which have been its key 'foreign policy' since the 1960s. But why is Ireland so keen to be involved? It cannot simply be for charitable reasons, so is it because it is a neutral state or because it is a middle power? Overall, is Ireland's peacekeeping policy based on realism and liberalism?"

Executive Seminar in Defense Decision-Making, June 2004 ; Purpose: To understand the motivation and conduct of civilian and military participants in international peacekeeping.

Rwanda is not a traditional provider of troops for peacekeeping missions, yet since 2004 it has been the second largest contributor to both the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and its successor the hybrid African Union-UN Assistance Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). This paper analyses some of the key motives for Rwanda's contribution to these missions, situating its actions within a wider framework in which African states benefit in specific ways from being seen to contribute to 'African solutions to African problems'. Highlighting changing narratives on Africa's role in international security, I argue that Rwanda's ruling party has been able use its involvement in peacekeeping to secure its position domestically and to attract or retain the support of key bilateral donors. I briefly explore the implications of these dynamics for Rwanda's political development, suggesting in conclusion that the focus on building military capacity for peacekeeping purposes may contribute to future African, and Rwandan, security problems as much as to potential solutions.

United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are among the most effective tools available for the international community to deal with threats to international peace and security. However, such operations have also been presenting significant shortcomings, like below average performances of some peacekeeping units. Against this backdrop, this article discusses the complexities of robust peacekeeping and the problem of military underperformance, intending to ascertain the significance of combat motivation as a contributing factor to the efficiency of UN military components and the effectiveness of robust peacekeeping missions. The results indicate the relevance of combat motivation for UN troops' better performances. Also, the findings point out the need to enhancing affective aspects in the preparation of the blue helmets, like self-confidence, small units cohesion, leadership, and sense of the cause.

This article examines the subjective experience and attitudes of Italian soldiers toward nontraditional military missions like peacekeeping, based on two surveys of Italian soldiers who served in peacekeeping missions to Albania and Somalia. It argues that the traditional "institutional/occupational" dichotomy is inadequate to explain the range of motivations of Italian peacekeepers. Instead, it offers a new typology of motivations-paleomodern, modern, and postmodern-to account for the observed data and shows how a variety of attitudes toward peacekeeping assignments varies by these motivational types. To conclude, it briefly considers the implications of these facts for military organization.