Doctor of Philosophy / The hypothesis of this work is that international human rights law and not international humanitarian law is the legal framework that applies to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations in collapsed States where the peacekeepers do not become a party to an armed conflict. In order to test this hypothesis the work begins by examining what is meant by peacekeeping and charts the evolution of peacekeeping from its origins as a passive ad hoc activity to the modern highly complex operations capable of providing the foundations for the recreation of civil society. Chapter two of the work builds on the first chapter by analysing the UN’s theoretical approach to peacekeeping through its major reports. This chapter provides insight into the development of peacekeeping as a theoretical construct and then into a central tool in the UN’s attempt to implement the Charter. Chapters three and four analyse peacekeeping as practiced by the UN in operations conducted under Chapters VI and VII of the UN Charter. This analysis leads to the conclusion that as a matter of practice the UN and the State parties that have provided the troops to perform peacekeeping under UN control have acted in accordance with international human rights law and that as a result there is evidence of State practice to support an argument that as a matter of customary international law international human rights law applies as the framework for peacekeeping in collapsed States. With a clear grounding in the practice and theory of peacekeeping the work then examines the competing claims of international humanitarian law and international human rights law as the legal framework for peacekeeping operations. Suggestions are made with regard to the triggers for international humanitarian law to apply and the conclusion is drawn that the vast majority of UN operations between 1949 and 2003 were conducted beneath the threshold for the application of international humanitarian law. The final chapter of the work analyses the practical application of a human rights framework to peacekeeping and concludes that it provides a flexible and adaptive tool for the restoration of peace and the reconstruction of civil society. As a result of the analysis of UN peacekeeping theory, practice and the competing claims of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the work concludes that international human rights law provides the framework for UN peacekeeping in collapsed States and that international humanitarian law will only apply where peacekeepers cross the threshold into armed conflict.

No / UN peacekeeping is once again undergoing a period of intense critical scrutiny. Having passed through three major phases of development, from first (classical or traditional) to second (multidimensional) generation configurations, to a third phase in the mid- and late 1990s when peace support operations emerged, it currently faces another period of transition. This article speculates about the possible configuration of peacekeeping and its role in global politics. Debates about the role of peacekeeping in the international system should bring to the forefront a conception and practice of cosmopolitan peacekeeping, involving a capacity to protect civilians from violent conflict (the negative peace dimension) and a the capacity to address the human security agenda adopted by the UN in recent years.

This study focused on presenting an analysis of the concept of marginalisation of former fighters after the Liberian civil conflict and how the web of connections such as status, identity and networks were central to any proposed establishment of a debate. The study had two aims. The first aim was to give a voice to the ex-soldiers who became neglected after the war, allowing them to tell their own stories of marginalisation before, during and after the conflict. The second aim was to help establish a debate on the notion of marginalisation that existed before the war and impacted the soldiers after the war. Within this, the study aimed to assess how the evolution of identity of individuals from youth to neglected veterans had occurred and to further the knowledge of the empirical literature in this regard. A secondary aim was to evaluate the success of reintegration of the ex-soldiers into Liberian society post-conflict and how far marginalisation hindered this attempt. To achieve these aims, the study focused on the use of a qualitative research methodology as the central research component. As well as considering the view of the empirical literature, the researcher wished to provide an account of marginalisation from those that had experienced it first-hand. Therefore, the study dispensed with the use of quantitative surveys and instead carried out personal conversations face to face that would reveal the former fighters’ feelings and attitudes in a more rounded and richer way. This methodological approach aimed to give a voice to the ex-soldiers and whether or not they perceive themselves as part of society. Using these interviews, the thesis aimed to analyse the influence of internal and external factors that caused the former fighters to perceive themselves as being either included, excluded or marginalised within Liberian society. The interviews, combined with the results of the review of the empirical literature, enabled the researcher to draw a number of salient points regarding the concept of marginalisation. The study found that the creation of the feeling of marginalisation for former fighters was composed of a variety of psycho-social factors. These included detachment from family, marginalised primary identities, the development of war-connected networks and a resilient sense of belonging, all of which combined to create a distinct group identity of the neglected veteran that currently exists in Liberian society. This has been because the former fighters have been unable to homogenise their status and identity with the rest of the population. This has stemmed from their perception of the failure of the reintegration process to eliminate the gap between former fighters and civilians and has led to serious problems within Liberian society. The study concludes that Liberian youth developed a war-family identity (collective group identity) and gained a strong sense of belonging. The actions of DDR led to this disintegration of the war family and triggered a series of reactions psychologically and socially. Moreover, reintegration attempts have proved unsuccessful due to the lack of education and skills held by the former fighters. Attempts to be accepted into society has not led to real integration. This has increased the perception of former fighters that they are now neglected veterans. Recommendations for further study are also provided in this work.

In recent years, cooperation between the UN and the EU in the realm of international peacekeeping has gone through major changes, including the remarkable achievement of a ‘Joint Declaration on UN-EU Cooperation in Crisis Management’ through which both organisations promised their primary role and responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Although the EU has reiterated its commitment to play a decisive role as a reliable peacekeeping actor within the UN framework, the decision of the EU to not always engage in international peacekeeping operations alongside the UN is puzzling. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the major driving forces behind decision-making which may determine the likelihood of EU cooperation with the UN in international peacekeeping, by asking: ‘under what condition do EU Member States lead UN-related peacekeeping operations?’ Using a revised two-level game approach, this thesis identifies the most important chief negotiators involved in negotiations, and analyses the dynamics of decision-making between the UN and the EU on the issue of international peacekeeping at two different levels: international UN level and domestic EU level. Variables and conditions under which chief negotiator(s) are more likely to provide active leadership to drive the EU to decide to engage in a peacekeeping operation are investigated with insights from two prominent IR theories; realist and social constructivist theories. Hypotheses drawn from each theory and the roles of chief negotiators are examined in each of three cases selected: Operation Artemis (2003), EUFOR RD Congo (2006), and EUFOR Tchad/RCA (2007). With the key research outcomes from a comparative analysis of the three case studies, the thesis aims to contribute to comprehensive debates on the role of the EU as a promising partner of the UN in international peacekeeping.

No description available.

This study investigated peacekeeping in West Africa, with particular focus on Nigeria’s roles (diplomatic, political, cultural, socioeconomic, peacekeeping and peace enforcement) in the West Africa region, from 1990 to 2005. This time frame is particularly important, because in the 1990s, the West African region experienced an outbreak of inter/intra state conflicts. These conflicts have been studied extensively by social scientists, political analysts and other scholars. In many of these studies, the analysts have focused mostly on the intervening roles of groups and organizations, such as the United Nations (UN), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). What this study found missing, however, is an in-depth analysis of the role/s of individual member states, such as Nigeria. The inter-agency framework for conflict analysis in transition and the contemporary history approaches were utilized to further understand the dynamics of peacekeeping in West Africa and the extent of Nigeria’s peacekeeping roles in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The conclusion drawn from the findings suggest that Nigeria plays pivotal peacekeeping roles in the West African region. These roles though necessitated by the limited role of the international community in Africa since the end of the Cold War, and by the need for regional political stability and security, have placed added burden on Nigeria as evidenced by the case studies of the Liberian and Sierra Leonean crises of the 1990s.

With 16 ongoing peacekeeping operations currently deploying almost 100,000 troops, United Nations peacekeeping is the largest single source of multilateral military intervention in conflict zones. Because UN peacekeeping is entirely dependent on voluntary contributions from Member States, there a pressing need to better understand why nations contribute peacekeeping troops in the first place. Individual national rationales for peacekeeping contribution vary significantly, and incentives may include regional hegemonic aspirations, positive economic benefits from peacekeeping, desiring a seat at the Security Council, or a combination of any number of incentives. This has made it difficult to provide a generalized explanation about why states provide peacekeepers. This thesis proposes a model for understanding the peacekeeping contribution issue under the lens of strategic culture. The strategic culture approach focuses on elite beliefs about the objectives of the use of force, with national factors such a geography, history, domestic politics, and bureaucracy forming into cohesive and competing norms about the purpose of the military. Drawing on the fourth generation of strategic culture literature, this dissertation argues that strategic culture serves as an intermediary variable that can be measured by discourse analysis to help understand changes in specific strategic behaviour, such as military peacekeeping contributions. By understanding the dynamic way that a country views the use of force – in short, by understanding how a country views its military as being useful in achieving policy goals -- we work towards a better understanding of why a country may contribute troops to United Nations peacekeeping.

South Africa's peacekeeping role emerged within the context of a changed landscape in Africa. The colonial legacy, the struggles against colonial rule and its subsequent replacement with post-colonial independent governments, shadowed by a global Cold War, ended in the early 1990s. These internal conflicts manifested themselves in violent armed rebellion between governments and opposition or militia groups. The roles and responsibilities of the police during peace-mission operations evolved from merely monitoring host nation police agencies, to reforming, restructuring and rebuilding police forces destroyed by war. United Nations police have assumed primary responsibility for maintaining law and order across all missions, where they play diverse and critical roles in the effort to re-establish the rule of law in states attempting to transition from war to a peace that produces safe and stable societies. The face of peacekeeping has changed from what was commonly known as traditional peacekeeping to being multidimensional in nature. The reason for this change is because the conflict that is taking place currently is no longer that of one country against another country, but is mostly an intra-state situation. The mandate for peacekeeping emanates from the United Nations continental body, i.e. the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, as well as the South African national legal framework. This research was conducted with the purpose of determining the extent of the challenges that the South African Police Service members are faced with during peace missions. The researcher recommends that further research be undertaken to focus on the following aspects: the role of South African Police Service members in Election Observer Mission and the challenges experienced during that kind of mission. Further research should also be conducted into the prevention of conflict before it even starts, especially in Africa. / Police Practice / D. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science)

This thesis considers Liberian youth and the concept of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). Since the early 2000s the notion of SDP has been strongly advocated, accepted and inserted into UN led policies and intervention strategies for uniting societies divided by violent conflict. Whilst little has been done to monitor and evaluate such programmes the notion has grown at an unprecedented pace and has been adopted by the development and humanitarian industry with real vigour. In many ways football has become the face of development in post-conflict societies. However, this fashionable intervention remains a development assumption rather than a tested method of programming. Liberia is a post-conflict society with a large youth population, an active large UN peacekeeping force and a long footballing heritage with a plethora of local NGO’s using SDP initiatives. My intention in this thesis is to question the assumptions of SDP advocates as they are applied in Liberia, in order to provide a better understanding of the social effects of football for Liberia’s youth population. I pursue this goal through an ethnography of one Liberian youth football team, Zatti FC, the community from which the players are drawn and the Catholic youth centre where they play. This thesis is significant as, despite its popularity, SDP has rarely been subjected to academic scrutiny, especially using the detailed qualitative methods I apply here. I will argue that, in this context, SDP is highly counter-productive for the purpose of youth development and the re-building of a peaceful Liberian society because football constitutes and reinforces the marginal status of youth. Seductive images rather than rational argument are central to SDP’s implementation and growth. Aiming to engage and integrate youth in post-conflict Liberia, SDP actively confirms youth status in a competitive and exclusionary age-based hierarchy.

No description available.