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Friedensicherung durch die Vereinten Nationen hat in Mali keine Zukunft. Für die seit 2013 bestehende Mission MINUSMA sind die politischen Rahmenbedingungen schlechter als je zuvor. Sie hat nicht die uneingeschränkte Unterstützung des VN-Sicherheitsrats und noch weniger die der malischen Regierung. Bevor ihr Abzug eingeleitet wird, sollte die Mission dennoch im Juni 2023 ein letztes Mal verlängert werden. In der der­zeitigen Hochrisikophase für Mali ist es besser, das Instrument MINUSMA noch für ein Jahr im Land zu behalten, statt es aus der Hand zu geben. Die Mission kann posi­tiven Einfluss auf die Transition zu einer neuen politischen Ord­nung ausüben und den Schaden begrenzen, der durch Menschenrechtsverletzungen und den kollabierenden Friedensprozess verursacht wird. Deutschland sollte daher an seinem beste­henden Abzugsplan bis Mai 2024 festhalten. (Autorenreferat)

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.

In recent years, some scholars have turned their attention towards the problem of multiple simultaneous peace operations (MSPOs), but with little focus on state motivations for their initiation. This thesis examines the case of the conflict in Mali and the high amount of operations deployed there by different actors. It does so through an instrumental case study of the establishment of these operations and of the French role in this process. The thesis finds that France was at first eager to deal with the conflict by supporting regional actors, but with the crisis deteriorating, becoming ever more involved. Next to its own intervention, it led various international organizations to operate alongside it in order to share the conflict management burden while remaining critically influential and securing its goals. This approach allowed France to balance the interests of its domestic audience, western allies, as well as those of the governments in the region. Based on the analysis, the thesis suggests that the proclaimed logic of division of labor between different organizations deploying MSPOs might be a justification for primarily generating as much resources as available while reducing various kinds of costs, although without any explicit evidence for it being a conscious effort of using the...

United nations peacekeeping is a contentious issue. What is mostly agreed on though, is thatthe brave men and women around the world risking their lives in peacekeeping missions around the world deserve the best security and protection the international community can offer. However, little research has been focused on the reasons behind violence against peacekeepers. This thesis theorizes that the presence of a third-party military operation that threatens theoperational capabilities of rebel groups has the potential to cause an increase in rebel violenceagainst a United Nations Peacekeeping operation in the same conflict. Through examiningconflict dynamics in the cases of Mali and the Central African Republic utilizing of astructured, focused comparison, the hypothesized relationship and causal explanations wereput to the test. The expectation was that in Mali, the high levels of violence would be explainedby the effectiveness of the French counterinsurgency operation in the country. In the CentralAfrican Republic, the contrary was expected. However, the hypothesis could not be confirmed. Due to some rather large caveats and limitations, the research gap could not be satisfied. Nonetheless, the study creates plenty for avenues of future research, and opportunities to learnfrom the challenges encountered.

Following the mid 1990s, a drop in Swedish contributions to UN led peacekeeping have been evident and EU and NATO led operations have taken preference. However, in 2013 Sweden invested in a substantial troop contribution to a UN led peacekeeping operation in Mali. There is a lack of existing sources providing arguments for this sudden increase of support to a UN peacekeeping operation. This thesis looks at governmental documents and declarations of Sweden in order to find an understanding of why Sweden decided to contribute to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission (MINUSMA) in Mali in 2013. In light of the past trends of increased focus towards operations led by NATO or the EU, this research was interested in what motivated Sweden to implement a substantial troop contribution to an UN led operation. Through tracing the arguments used by the Swedish government regarding their involvement in Mali and looking at core concepts of rational choice to find if the decision was rational.

This thesis focus on the UN-led peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and how the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has undertaken this in its resolutions. The importance to study this subject and statebuilding efforts, such as MINUSMA, is due to that a failed statebuilding may result in potential international consequences. This is the case in Mali where terror- and criminal organizations now roam free in large parts of the country where these organizations may plan their operations, including international terror attacks. Therefore, this study will research how the UNSC has positioned itself regarding the potential explanations to the outcomes of statebuilding, the statebuilder´s dilemma, and dividing structures. To conduct the analysis of the resolutions, a qualitative document analysis has been conducted. For understanding the context in Mali and the aftermath of the resolutions, secondary data analysis has been used. The conclusions for this thesis are that the UNSC has taken a middle way in the context of the statebuilder´s dilemma and dividing structures, but that the UNSC also shows a great loyalty towards the Malian state and not vice versa as the dilemma debates. The objective is to shine a light on the UN peacekeeping missions in an attempt to influence how they are carried out since improvement is needed.

Coherence is a core objective in most multinational interventions and seems of particular relevance to UN peacekeeping missions with their increasing complexity and multidimensionality. Yet, coherence has rarely been studied empirically. We borrow the concept of ‘fit’ from organizational theory and use it to develop a conceptual framework to study coherence in peacekeeping operations. Fit is the degree of match between what is required by the mandate, on the one hand, and an institutional set-up and the implemented practices, on the other. We identify three relevant dimensions of fit to study coherence: strategic and organizational, cultural and human and operational fit. Our empirical material focuses on the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and in particular on the interplay between the intelligence components and the rest of the mission. We draw upon a large empirical dataset containing over 120 semi-structured interviews, field observations and participation in pre-deployment exercises and evaluation sessions. Our empirical analysis suggests that low level of fit across several dimensions leads to inertial and widespread frictions in the practice of peacekeeping and could potentially undermine peacekeeping effectiveness. Building on existing scholarship on micro-level approaches to peacekeeping, we hope to further the debate on organizational dynamics within peace operations.

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

Since the first peacekeeping operation in 1948, the global security environment has changed and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali - MINUSMA - established in 2013, has come to represent the emerging practice of deploying peacekeeping operations to asymmetric conflicts. Where there are on-going counter-terrorist operations, and no peace to keep. In 2014, the Swedish parliament passed a decision, that Sweden was to contribute with troops to MINUSMA, and nowadays, there is a political ambition for a long-term participation. Thus, the objective of this research is to examine the experiences of Swedish peacekeeping soldiers’ who have served in Mali by conducting a qualitative interview study. To better understand how they perceive and experience their service period and how the factors outlined in the ‘model of UN soldiers’ experience of their daily service’ influence it. The results from the interviews indicate that even though all soldiers’ has their own perception and experience of their service period, there are also many similarities, thus, a number of patterns were possible to discover. Further, all comments could somehow be linked to the service environment, which indicate that how the soldiers’ experience their service environment is dependent on the other factors outlined in the model. Due to Swedens long and well-established experience with peacekeeping operations, future studies could look at other peacekeeping missions.

This article examines Germany’s past, present and future approach to UN peacekeeping, particularly in the context of a potential ‘European return to UN Peacekeeping’ and the country’s recent commitment to contribute to the Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). By applying a conceptual framework for assessing facilitating and inhibiting factors related to Germany’s past and current participation in UN peacekeeping operation, the article argues that core reasons for German troop contributions range from bilateral partnerships and multilateral pressures, to the role of individual policy entrepreneurs and inter-organizational aspects. Yet, Germany’s culture of restraint and public scepticism towards military operations act as important inhibiting factors. Most crucially, Germany has since the early 1990s pursued an instrumentalist approach to UN peacekeeping in order to strengthen its international profile within a discourse of ‘assuming more responsibility’, to advance ‘normalization’ in security affairs and to enhance internal political and external bilateral security cooperation schemes. Germany’s recent commitment to MINUSMA and its discourse will not result in a ‘big bang’ return to UN peacekeeping, but rather in a selective commitments on a carefully assessed case-by-case basis.

Peacekeepers are widely viewed as being at growing risk of direct and deliberate violence. Attacks are recorded in many and diverse contexts, targeting interventions deployed by both the United Nations and other organisations. This dissertation seeks to advance the understanding of such violence, studying its causes, characteristics and consequences. The impact of deliberate violence against peacekeepers can be severe; it often extends past those immediately affected and impacts interveners’ ability to accomplish their aims. As a topic of scientific inquiry, however, violence against peacekeepers has only recently seen a growth in interest, and systematic study has so far been sparse. This dissertation makes a number of theoretical and empirical contributions to this emerging area of research. The dissertation contains four individual essays. To set the stage and provide foundations for further studies, Essay I specifies key concepts and maps the research field to date. It promotes a wider, and arguably more theoretically appropriate, conceptualisation of violence against peacekeepers than used in earlier studies. Essay II presents new, systematically collected event data on violence against UN and non-UN peacekeepers deployed to conflict-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 1989 and 2009. Patterns from the data demonstrate that, while widely prevalent, violence against peacekeepers is not ubiquitous to peacekeeping and displays considerable variation within and across interventions. Drawing on this novel data, Essay III provides one of the first systematic studies on the time-varying determinants of rebel attacks on peacekeepers, showing its occurrence to be closely linked to rebel performance on the battlefield. Finally, Essay IV explores how operating in a challenging security environment can affect peacekeepers’ ability to perform core mission functions, drawing on the case of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The analysis illustrates how such an environment may expose and further constrain already limited capabilities and willingness for robust and armed action in UN peacekeeping operations. Taken together, the essays advance our understanding of the causes, characteristics and consequences of violence against peacekeepers.

This introductory article outlines the main rationale of the Special Issue and places the topic of the so-called ‘European Return to United Nations Peacekeeping’ in the wider context of recent policy developments and conceptual discussions related to the literature on UN troop contributions. It then outlines some of the key findings of the nine case studies (Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) included in this issue. The article concludes that despite a recent engagement of a group of European countries in the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), expectations of a large-scale ‘return of Europe’ to UN peacekeeping are premature. While the MINUSMA experience will certainly spark important discussions and developments related to the future of UN peacekeeping and Western contributions, European countries will continue to commit only selectively troops on a case-by-case basis and only if a wide range of facilitating factors align as much as they did in the Mali case.