The thesis deals with evaluation of missions lead by regional and sub-regional organizations in Africa. The cases for the study are the ECOMICI mission in Ivory Coast lead by the ECOWAS and the AMIS mission lead by the AU. The regional peacekeeping operations developed mainly the during the 1990's. Peacekeeping is the dynamic field and the evaluation of outcomes is important for future missions. The evaluation framework used fot this study was designed by Diehl and Druckman and described in their book The evaluation of peace operations. The thesis is structured into the four main parts, In hte first part of the study there is an introduction into the field of peace operation, the regional organisations and their security frameworks and also the peacekeeping evaluation field. In the second part the analytic framework for the evaluation is described, the third part deals with the evalution of the two missions, ECOMICI and AMIS and last part is devoted to conclusions. By analysing these two operations we are able to conclude if the regional organisations are able to deploy peacekeeping missions, if they are successful and what are the main challenges and advantages for the regional peacekeeping. Keywords peacekeeping, evaluation, AMIS, ECOMICI, regional organisation, sub- regional organisation,...

This Master's thesis will focus on the newest trends in the field of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations that are moving the organization to unknown territory by deploying in theatres where missions are faced with asymmetric threats. In this regard, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), constituted as a groundbreaking and innovative peacekeeping operation, is spearheading a realignment in peacekeeping that can potentially shape future operations to come, as mandates increasingly reflect roles in areas such as counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism. The core objective of this study will be to analyze why MINUSMA is being forced to go green while studying how it is doing so, reflecting on past experiences from other operations such as the International Stabilization Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and the Multi-National Force in Iraq (MNF-I), that have guided changes in MINUSMA's doctrines and capabilities. Gabriel van Oppen Ardanaz

In the years following 9/11, research has shown that United Nations peacekeeping has grown increasingly militarized. Meanwhile, there have long been calls for women’s increased participation in peacekeeping, for a myriad of reasons mainly founded on instrumental and essentialist arguments. According to feminist theories, however, militarization would limit the agency of women as they are often placed in marginalized, protected roles when such a militarization occurs. Against this background, this thesis has utilized a visual and textual discourse analysis to investigate memory books published by the Swedish Armed Forces, which detail the presence of the Swedish contingency in MINUSMA in the period 2014-2019, to understand the connection between female peacekeeper’s agency and the increasing militarization of the UN’s most deadly peacekeeping mission. The findings suggest that militarization does not seem to limit the agency of Swedish female peacekeepers, who have seen their roles become more varied and seemingly possess more agency later than earlier on in the mission, despite an increased militarization of the peacekeeping mission. The thesis thus contributes to an underexamined connection between agency and militarization in the context of peacekeepers, while exploring a heretofore unexamined material. In doing so, the thesis opens for further research in both the material itself as well as further comparative studies.

The transition from war to peace is seldom smooth, and violence persists in many postwar societies. Existing research found that peacekeepers have a good record in addressing postwar violence along the fault lines of the preceding conflict. Yet, most postwar violence stems from actors that were not formally part of the conflict. The shift of actors is a challenge for peacekeepers focused on keeping the peace between the belligerents. Nonetheless, recent studies show that only UN police positively impact postwar violence, likely due to their broader effect on public security. Further scrutinising this finding, the research question is How do peacekeeping mandates impact the level of postwar violence in the aftermath of intra-state conflicts? I argue that variation in peacekeepers’ activities sheds light on how peacekeeping missions address postwar violence: Missions with public security-oriented mandates can reduce postwar violence better than other missions because they fill the public security gap. I test this hypothesis utilising a quantitative research strategy of 310 post-conflict episodes – years of60 conflicts between 1991 and 2016. The results imply that public security-oriented missions might not prevent collective strategic postwar violence but positively impact spontaneous unorganised postwar violence.

Whether United Nations peacekeeping operations are effective or not has been extensively studied over the past decades. Similarly, the differences between peacekeeping missions deployed by the UN and third party interventions by other actors are well documented. However, the interaction between blue helmets and parallel non-UN forces deployed alongside each other remains understudied. I aim to shed light on this phenomenon by answering the research question: Do Parallel Peace Operations moderate the effectiveness of UN Peacekeeping Operations? I argue that parallel non-UN operations reinforce UN peacekeeping missions in active conflicts by exercising active, kinetic measures of coercion. This increases the efficiency of the mechanisms of power applied by UN peacekeepers and makes it more likely that they fulfill the security related and socio-economic objectives of their mandate. A large-n analysis of all active conflicts between 1993 and 2014 suggests that as the UN commits more personnel to a peace operation, the security related objectives of its mandate are more likely to be fulfilled as long as the mission is supported by a parallel peace operation. I found more spurious and less convincing evidence for the moderating effect of parallel forces on the effective fulfillment of the socio-economic objectives of UN operation’s mandates.

Diploma thesis deals with the connection between the nature of implemented peacekeeping operation and possible positive output of this activity and thus with successful peacebuilding in the specific context of etnopolitical conflicts. Etnopolitical disputes constitute a vivid challenge aimed towards United Nations organisation. Mainly, because this organisation is one of the main actors of international system in finding solutions of etnopolitical conflicts and because United Nations also proposes concrete tools for their resolving - peacekeeping missions. We work with assumption that the nature of etnopolitical conflict and the nature of conflicting parties involved influence, to an important extent, involvement and impact of peacekeeping operations in resolving these conflicts. Diploma thesis, through the use of theories of origin and solvability of ethnic conflicts, creates the framework within which their more complicated solvability can be explained as well as inhibitors of theoretically successful models. Likewise, the typology of peacekeeping operations is defined and also narrower understanding of peacebuilding, as a set of political and security aspects, is described. Datas from four case studies then offer an opportunity to formulate partial endings and findings of examined causal relation. C lick...

Peacekeeping operations have since their inception become a widely-used tool used to address the acute crises emerging in international relations. For a long time, their success or failure were not object of scientific scrutiny. This has changed in recent years. This thesis describes evaluation frameworks developed by three authors and then applies them to three cases of peacekeeping operations (Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Rwanda) and it tries to assess the extent to which the assumption about the too optimistic evaluation criteria proposed by Virginia Page Fortna and too pessimistic evaluation criteria suggested by Diehl and Druckman are substantiated by empirical reality of peacekeeping operations. These approaches are supplemented by the evaluation criteria proposed by Daryia Pushkina which serve as an evaluation mainstream.

Even after the introduction of the UNSCR 1325 and subsequent resolutions, women’s leadership in the context of the WPS Agenda remains very low, despite the clear stance of the UN towards a support of an increased participation of women in peace and security processes. The aim of this thesis is to specifically address women’s leadership in the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) in the framework of peacekeeping operations, looking at the way the gender perspective is applied in the SAF through the introduction of the Handbok Gender, adopted in 2016. Since the focus of this research is on women, the theoretical perspective utilised as reference point is feminism and specifically a feminist constructivist approach with an institutional focus. Mixed research methods have been applied in order to collect the data, while the main centre of attention of this project has been a critical discourse analysis of the mentioned gender policy. Sweden has been chosen as case study because of the relevance of its singular feminist policies (Wallström’s statement that Sweden is pursuing a feminist foreign policy is a clear example), nevertheless the conclusions appear to be quite contradictory because even in a country which officially identifies as feminist women’s leadership in peacekeeping operations is very low.

This research will analyze the radio station ONUCI FM, UN’s peace radio in Côte d’Ivoire. The central focus is on journalists’ perception of their role as professional advocacy for peace and democracy. Personal interviews with five ONUCI FM-journalists provide the primary source of qualitative source. In light of the Security Council’s decision to end UN’s peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire in 2017 followed an uncertainty of ONUCI FM’s future before it was decided that the station would continue to broadcast under the Felix Houphouët-Boigny foundation. This research attempts to elucidate the consequences in similar previous cases. This research shows that the UN often lacks a long-term plan of how to handle their stations when their mission ends, thereby creating an indisputable journalistic vacuum where they previously operated. This research shows that few UN radios are capable of surviving without donations but that leaving abruptly may cause harm to the achieved peace. With the intention to provide a solution to the vacuum created after the UN this research explores the possibilities of citizen journalists filling the void after the organization’s withdrawal. This research argues that Citizen Journalism is a suitable substitute to Peace Journalism when UN radio stations stop broadcasting. Applied theories are Peace Journalism, Journalism ethics and Citizen Journalism. All theories are applicable in the analysis of journalists as nation builders, government partners, and agents of empowerment and also as watchdogs. In conclusion, the purpose of this research is to understand the journalist's own experience of working at ONUCI FM and to analyze if a radio station such as ONUCI FM, when no longer supported by the UN, can benefit of Citizen Journalism.

As the Congolese conflict marks the 20th year, and the peace process 17 years, the apparent question is why is the search for peace in the DRC proving elusive? Spoilers and other impediments to the peace process in the DRC have been studied and UN peacekeepers have been operational in the country for nearly seventeen years, but the conflict continues. This study therefore seeks to understand the potential of UN peacekeeping to hinder the peace process in the DRC, and the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) constitutes a study case. MONUSCO has been in operation for six years today succeeding the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), and is still operating. Inasmuch as it looks early to gauge whether MONUSCO is contributing to progress or hindering the peace process in the DRC, this study focuses on the practices of UN peacekeepers under MONUSCO and their potential to delay peace initiatives. Using secondary data as the main source of information, i.e., books, articles, journals, news, UN reports and resolutions, triangulation and Game Theory, especially the Prisoners’ Dilemma Analytical Framework derived from the Prisoners’ Dilemma Game Matrix, this study finds that the Stabilization Mission is inconsistent, i.e., UN peacekeepers are performing controversial tasks: use of force to protect civilians, engaging in battles to neutralize armed militias and investigation of war crimes and human rights, tasks that have generated resentment from the FARDC/Kinshasa government and the armed militias, making the search for peace a one actors responsibility [MONUSCO’s task]. A clear indication that MONUSCO is hindering the peace process in the DRC. The thematic analysis details five (5) themes and indicates that; cooperation is problematic, use of force to protect civilians is controversial, there is a mismatch between doctrine and practice, i.e., deviation of UN peacekeeping from the basic principles, the justice dilemma, and an understanding of peace as absence of war and fighters. The thesis concludes that practices of MONUSCO need revisiting, dialogue should be encouraged, revision of peacekeeping principles and accurate timing of interventions, so as to enhance progress in the search for peace in DRC. / <p>This thesis is a true representation of my artistic academic work, written passiantely and informed with logical interpretation of other authors' perepectives, i.e., it is a deskstudy. It took me 10 weeks to produce this piece of work which adds to the ongoing debate on the Congolese process and UN peacekeeping in the DRC and other parts of the world. Written in Linnaeus University, Småland Sweden. </p> / Masters Thesis