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In war-torn countries, elections are held to support peacebuilding, but they sometimes trigger new violence. While peacekeeping operations (PKOs) regularly accompany electoral periods, we lack systematic knowledge on how they influence election-related violence. I argue that variation in peacekeepers' activities is fundamentally important: only if PKOs assist with securing and organizing elections can they reduce election-related violence. Using novel data on PKOs' election-related activities and accounting for endogeneity in both peacekeeping deployment and activities, the analyses of all 630 elections in conflict-affected countries support this expectation. The result implies that the design of PKOs is crucial for effectively managing post-war political transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian government has presented itself as a champion of gender mainstreaming in UN peacekeeping. At the same time, the domestic security sector in India continues to create a gender-segregated environment and experiences of uniformed women in the field show remaining barriers for gender equity. Given this contradiction, the article examines the ambivalence inherent to Indian gender mainstreaming of peacekeeping units. We argue that transnational norms, such as gender mainstreaming, are embedded in larger norm bundles, and we combine the literature of norm localization and norm contestation in our conceptual framework to illustrate how India localizes parts of the gender mainstreaming norm bundle whilst contesting others. We find that India's localization of the gender mainstreaming norm has meant to pursue an asymmetric gender-parity approach between different branches of the Indian security forces and that it has fomented a division of labour within the police corps. Moreover, we illustrate how India contests the idea of placing women in security-sensitive areas, in combat roles, and gender-integrated police units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prominent anti-mercenary norm entrepreneur in the second half of the twentieth century, the United Nations (UN) has become an equally prominent user of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) services in the twenty-first century. In this article, we explain the gap between UN talk and action on private providers of security as a form of organized hypocrisy. To map the mismatch between UN rhetoric and behaviour in a measurable fashion, we combined official data on the use of PMSCs with an in-depth content analysis of the reports written by the UN Working Group on Mercenaries and an examination of the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) contracting policy. The Working Group's very negative portrayal of PMSCs and the UNDSS caveat that armed contractors should only be used as a last resort and stands in stark contrast with UN agencies' widespread use of private security providers. Although a decoupling between talk and action is often inevitable for complex organizations simultaneously pursuing contradictory objectives like the UN, our findings have important implications for peacekeeping. Most notably, organized hypocrisy is in danger of challenging the UN's credibility as a norm entrepreneur, hindering the effectiveness of its agencies' outsourcing practices and delaying the reform of UN peacekeeping and crisis management at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article scrutinizes the overlaps between three major UN policy agendas to explain how their interaction impacts the delivery of protection, particularly against conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). Building on Pierre Bourdieu, it reconstructs the 'field of international interventions' and subsequently analyses the evolution of the protection mandate, highlighting the complementarities and contradictions between Children and Armed Conflict, Protection of Civilians and Women, Peace and Security. My findings suggest that while these agendas have reinforced each other during their establishment and institutionalization, the multiplication of administrative structures has also led to the compartmentalization of protection. The field's competitive pressures, furthermore, push organizations to focus on their own mandates and subsume aspects of other agendas under them. Data from the Democratic Republic of Congo indicate that despite recognizing the need for gender-sensitive approaches, UN peacekeeping largely continues to understand protection against CRSV as part of its general protection efforts. Therefore, the militarized and gender-ignorant approach to protection prevails and specific measures to address sexual violence remain too headquarters-driven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International organizations' ability to respond promptly to crises is essential for their effectiveness and legitimacy. For the UN, which sends peacekeeping missions to some of the world's most difficult conflicts, responsiveness can save lives and protect peace. Very often, however, the UN fails to deploy peacekeepers rapidly. Lacking a standing army, the UN relies on its member states to provide troops for peacekeeping operations. In the first systematic study of the determinants of deployment speed in UN peacekeeping, we theorize that this speed hinges on the incentives, capabilities, and constraints of the troop-contributing countries. Using duration modeling, we analyze novel data on the deployment speed in 28 peacekeeping operations between 1991 and 2015. Our data reveal three principal findings: All else equal, countries that depend on peacekeeping reimbursements by the UN, are exposed to negative externalities from a particular conflict, or lack parliamentary constraints on sending troops abroad deploy more swiftly than others. By underlining how member state characteristics affect aggregate outcomes, these findings have important implications for research on the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping, troop contribution dynamics, and rapid deployment initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the impact of Global Governance on the United Nations peacekeeping operations. As the world becomes more and more complex and interconnected, the number of conflicts around the world increases day by day. These challenges are the result of globalization and the progress in the field of technology, as well as the appearance of new actors. All these global problems go beyond the borders of individual states to resolve these issues by themselves at the global scale, taking into consideration the fact that there are no strong enforcement mechanisms and strong approaches which may reduce the risks worldwide. This transformation process directly affects different sectors, such as: good governance, the rule of law, human rights and democratization, which are imperative for the world. This article also examines the connection between peacekeeping operations and the concept of global governance, and how this concept has become integrated in the UN peacekeeping operations. It is essential to have a clear understanding of global governance, especially, of global norms and policies; because they are connected directly to the mandate of the mission as the success of the mission mainly depends on the transformation of these norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation Guide and Project Tools i , joint publication of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) . Their analysis reveals areas where the Organization could strengthen compliance with the good governance and rule of law principles. In line with other contributions in this Forum, the article on the ilo by Anne Trebilcock argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided both challenges and opportunities for the Organization, from a good governance and rule of law perspective. [Extracted from the article]

UN peacekeepers serve under harsh and dangerous conditions to help and support the most vulnerable people in conflict zones. The UN recognizes the importance of gender responses in peacekeeping engagements. It has expanded the role and contribution of women in peacekeeping and considers their role critical to enhancing overall peace and security. This paper, therefore, aims to study the cost-benefit analysis of the UN peacekeepers in terms of their services. The study is based on qualitative research using Pakistani female peacekeepers as a case study to draw analysis based on informal conversation/interviews with the former female peacekeepers, officers, and trainers. It also examines the current UN peacekeeping training module. This paper argues that the cost and benefits of the peacekeepers should be in line with the services required and concluded that focusing on peacekeeping operations is impractical without proper training and facilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do international organisations (IOs) balance norms that have conflicting prescriptions? In this article, we build on the literature on norm contestation and norm conflict to identify four ways in which IOs might respond to norm conflicts: (1) consistent norm prioritisation; (2) ad hoc norm prioritisation; (3) balanced norm reconciliation and (4) imbalanced norm reconciliation. How IOs are more likely to respond, we argue, depends on the salience of the norm conflict and the relative strength of the conflicting norms. We illustrate our argument by investigating the norm conflicts that the United Nations (UN) encountered between traditional UN peacekeeping norms and the norm of international criminal accountability in the context of assistance by UN peace operations to the International Criminal Court. Distinguishing between behaviour and discourse as well as headquarters and field levels, we argue that the UN's response strategies have been largely successful at reducing the tensions generated by the norm conflicts, but that in the longer term they run the risk of both undermining the international criminal accountability norm and damaging the acceptance and credibility of UN peace operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the use of force to protect civilians in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations. Topics discussed include the emergence of the protection of civilians (PoC) as a moral imperative following the failure of UN forces to stop the Rwandan genocide and killing of more than 8,000 men and boys at UN-designated safe area by the Bosnian Serb Army in the 1990s, positive effects of PoC in UN operations, and strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the use of force for PoC.

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has undergone significant changes in its organisation since 1948. A new global environment established by the end of Cold War, elevated the Police Division to a more pronounced role in international peace as an essential pillar of UN peacekeeping missions. Nonetheless, despite the increased role of police in international missions, research on police contributions to peacekeeping remains limited. This article addresses this gap in literature by highlighting the case of Turkey's contribution to UN international police peacekeeping missions. The article confirms empirically that the Turkish police contribution has increased since the 2000s by relying on quantitative data offered by the TUBAKOV dataset designed to collect data on international peacekeeping missions of Turkey. The paper contends that, besides global trends, the increased participation of Turkey in UN-led missions reflects its internal political dynamics. First, under the JDP rule, Turkey's Cold War era subtle foreign policy was transformed to a proactive policy in global politics. Second, since the 2000s, the transformation of civil–military relations has ended the system of military tutelage, and this has had a considerable impact on foreign policy. Civilian authority, by abolishing military dominance, has become the primary actor in foreign policy decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the benefits of on‐site printing at remote geographic locations, where access to spare parts is intermittent and supplies are replenished at fixed intervals. Organizations typically have no solution to spare parts shortages other than expensive expediting orders, or waiting for a part to arrive with the next replenishment. We investigate whether on‐site three‐dimensional (3D) printing of spare parts can bring relief. Our work extends dual‐sourcing literature with fixed order cycles by considering two emergency supply options: expediting regular parts and 3D printing lower quality parts. We model the replenishment and emergency supply decisions as a Markov decision process and find that the optimal inventory control policy consists of two thresholds that control when to expedite, when to print and when to wait for regular parts via the next replenishment. We apply our model to a case study of the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) for her United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. Our results show that on‐site 3D printing, much more so than expediting, leads to large operational cost savings through on‐site inventory reductions and increased asset availability, thus increasing the ability of the RNLA to operate in remote locations. These results extend to many other organizations that operate in remote locations, for example, those in the mining and offshore industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While peacekeeping's effects on receiving states have been studied at length, its effects on sending states have only begun to be explored. This article examines the effects of contributing peacekeepers abroad on democracy at home. Recent qualitative research has divergent findings: some find peacekeeping contributes to democratization among sending states, while others find peacekeeping entrenches illiberal or autocratic rule. To adjudicate, we build on recent quantitative work focused specifically on the incidence of coups. We ask whether sending peacekeepers abroad increases the risk of military intervention in politics at home. Drawing on selectorate theory, we expect the effect of peacekeeping on coup risk to vary by regime type. Peacekeeping brings with it new resources which can be distributed as private goods. In autocracies, often developing states where UN peacekeeping remuneration exceeds per-soldier costs, deployment produces a windfall for militaries. Emboldened by new resources, which can be distributed as private goods among the selectorate, and fearing the loss of them in the future, they may act to depose the incumbent regime. In contrast, peacekeeping will have little effect in developed democracies, which have high per-troop costs, comparatively large selectorates, and low ex-ante coup risk. Anocracies, which typically have growing selectorates, and may face distinctive international pressures to democratize, will likely experience reduced coup risk. We test these claims with data covering peacekeeping deployments, regime type, and coup risk since the end of the Cold War. Our findings confirm our theoretical expectations. These findings have implications both for how we understand the impact of participation in peacekeeping – particularly among those countries that contribute troops disproportionately in the post-Cold War era – and for the potential international determinants of domestic autocracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a broad assessment of Chinese personnel deployments to peacekeeping operations (PKOs) for the past three decades (1990-2019). To this end, an original dataset was built with data collected from the UN Department of Peace Operations. The following four indicators were considered in the analysis: (i) total personnel contribution per year; (ii) personnel contribution per mission; (iii) personnel contribution in relation to the mission's total contingent; and (iv) personnel in a given mission in relation to the total personnel dispatched by China that year. Generally speaking, UN missions in Liberia (UNMIL) and South Sudan (UNMISS) have been the main destinations of Chinese peacekeepers in the 21st Century, while Cambodia (UNTAC) was by far the only place where China got deeply involved during the 1990s. In addition to displaying descriptive data, the paper also briefly analyses Chinese engagement in these operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent do peacekeeper fatalities affect states' contributions to UN operations? While the deaths of peacekeepers are thought to be a factor in states' decisions to reduce the magnitude of their participation in a mission, not all states respond similarly to peacekeeper fatalities. I hypothesize that democracies and wealthy countries are likely to be more sensitive to peacekeeper deaths than their non-democratic and poorer counterparts. Analyses of UN peacekeeping operations between 1990 and 2011 confirm that peacekeeper fatalities generally have a negative effect upon the size of countries' contributions to peacekeeping operations, and that wealthy countries are likely to make larger decreases to their contributions than poorer countries. There is less evidence, however, that democracies are more sensitive to peacekeeper fatalities than non-democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peacekeeping literature has primarily documented correlations between peacekeeping operations (PKOs) and their effectiveness or has focused on the decisions of troop-contributing countries participating in PKOs. Unlike the extant research, this paper shifts the focus to the decision-making process within PKOs. More specifically, this paper focuses on the timing of peacekeeper deployment by investigating how contributor leaders are distinguished from contributor followers. To tackle this topic, I use deployment-map data from 13 UN PKOs in Africa from 1990 to 2016. When a leader country deploys to a region before other countries, the followers will thus face an incentive to free ride because waiting to deploy to the region until it is secure is less risky. In short, there is a second-mover advantage that induces other countries to delay deployment until much later in a given UN PKO's designated deployment window. This study finds that countries that could deploy more troops at their initial time of deployment and that have many previous UN PKO experiences are more likely to be leaders. Results also suggest that contributors engaging in multiple UN PKOs contemporaneously are less likely to be leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks narrowly at whether a 'human security' approach can be seen in a UN peace operation that pursues stabilization, namely the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). The UN's interpretation of stabilization has not been expressly set out, but stabilization missions typically work alongside the host state to extend state authority and use robust force to counter spoilers. Human security is a concept which is rights-based, promotes the 'vital core', has a concern for vulnerability, utilizes preventative protection methods, and empowers local persons to have agency in the peace process. Attempts have been made to institutionalize and mainstream human security practices within the UN. An analytical framework of human security is outlined in this article and used to assess to what extent the mandate of MINUSCA pursues human security-based goals. An extensive review of UN documentation looks at the mandate and practice of MINUSCA and it is argued that the mission does seek to empower local people, engage in a bottom-up manner and entrench the rule of law. The analytical framework also casts light on aspects of the stabilization mandate which are problematic such as militarization and cooperation with the host state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Motivation.: A plethora of warfighting games exist commercially, but there is a lack of digital games that deal with peace processes. Furthermore, none simulate actual peacekeeping. The United Nations currently deploys about 100,000 peacekeepers to some of the world's most dangerous zones, where peacekeepers save lives, alleviate suffering, and help create conditions for peace. The United Nations and national militaries lack peacekeeping simulations to help train their soldiers. Additionally, the public needs to learn more about the way peacekeeping works. Thus, peacekeeping simulation and gaming are worth exploring, especially in the rapidly evolving digital space, which offers new avenues and benefits. Methods.: We review the meager literature on the subject and observe that there are few digital games to directly draw from. We build on previous work that argued the need for such development, but we now assess important design principles and parameters. We draw upon peacekeeping tabletop exercises that are already well developed. Results.: We conclude that excellent scenarios and simulation technologies exist that could be combined quite easily for effective peacekeeping training and public education. We find key materials and scenarios in exercises of the United Nations and of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. Highlighted areas for future digital design are the inclusion of non-military avatars, emphasis on soft skills development (especially empathy), and realistically complex links between actions and consequences. Conclusion.: While describing some UN exploration at a proof-of-concept stage, we suggest that both the United Nations and the gaming industry should explore the idea further to achieve synergies between institutional and entertainment applications. The growing capacity of digital technology allows significant innovation, yielding results that could be useful, ethical, enjoyable, and potentially profitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing peacekeepers' access to information derived from intelligence sources could help compensate for their reduced physical presence due to COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary peacekeeping operations carry out many disparate tasks, which has triggered a debate about "Christmas Tree mandates." Did the UN Secretariat or the UN Security Council drive this expansion? Using original data on nineteen UN peacekeeping missions, 1998–2014, this article compares peacekeeping tasks recommended by the Secretariat to those mandated by the Council. It finds that the two bodies expressed different preferences regarding the nature, number, and novelty of peacekeeping tasks. First, the Council dropped Secretariat-recommended tasks as often as it added new ones on its own initiative. Second, the two bodies disagreed more over peacebuilding and peacemaking tasks than over peacekeeping tasks. Third, the Council preferred to be the one to introduce novel tasks that had not appeared in previous mandates. Finally, among the countries that "held the pen" on peacekeeping resolutions, the United States was the most prone to dropping Secretariat-proposed tasks and the least willing to add tasks itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the domestic effects of the ongoing changes in United Nations peacekeeping practice on troop contributing states from the Global South. It juxtaposes scholarship on stabilization, the specific motivations of Global South troop contributing countries, and in particular the effects on civilian control of armed forces of peacekeeping participation. It argues that the "diversionary peace" hypothesis—which posits beneficial effects on civilian control for peacekeeping—has not obtained, and that current developments in United Nations peace operations will negatively affect civil–military relations in postcolonial sending countries. The text suggests avenues for future inquiry. One is the notion that stabilization may lead to a net negative effect on civilian control in unconsolidated democracies. This is due to stabilization's increased militarization, and its turn towards objectives that mimic the counterinsurgency mandates associated with military rule in the Global South, rather than a focus on the socioeconomic well-being of local populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the future of UN peace operations through a complexity theory lens. In the short-term peacekeeping will have to adapt to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fall-out of the Trump presidency. In the medium-term peacekeeping will go through a phase of uncertainty and turbulence due to geopolitical power shifts in the global order. In the longer-term peacekeeping will have to adapt to a new multipolar global order characterized by coexistence, and a changing security landscape shaped by, among others, climate change, urbanization, and new technologies. Throughout these contraction, moderation, and adjustment phases, UN peacekeeping is likely to be guided by a principled adaptive approach, that allows it to adapt to the realities of the moment whilst staying true to its core form and identity. As a result, UN peacekeeping is likely to remain one of the most visible symbols of global governance and international cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fighting between rival communities in the disputed region of Abyei, claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, has resulted in the deaths of 54 people, including two UN peacekeepers. The clashes broke out a few days prior and have been condemned by the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). The violence has been linked to a long-standing conflict between the Ngok and Twic communities. The international Troika, consisting of Britain, Norway, and the United States, expressed deep concern over the escalation of violence in the region. [Extracted from the article]

Uganda has announced the withdrawal of its troops from eastern DR Congo, where they were part of the East African Community force (EACF). The EACF, deployed in late 2022, faced criticism for failing to stop rebel-backed violence. The withdrawal of Ugandan troops follows that of soldiers from South Sudan, Kenya, and Burundi. The regional force was invited to liberate territory under rebel control, but the government deemed them ineffective and will now rely on troops from the Southern African Community (SADC). Additionally, Burundian troops have been accused of committing human rights abuses in eastern DR Congo. A political-military alliance has also been formed between Congolese opposition figures and rebel groups, leading to tensions with the Congolese government and diplomatic consequences with Kenya. Hostilities have resumed between armed groups and the DR Congo army, resulting in casualties. The situation remains volatile, with the threat of armed conflict between DR Congo and Rwanda still high. [Extracted from the article]

Providing an important contribution to this debate, the author employs a directed-mission-member-state-year unit of analysis assessing every UN peacekeeping mission from 1992 to 2015 (p.50). Scholars have analysed the failures and successes of UN peacekeeping missions, debating how, amongst other factors, the timing of the intervention, the tasks that peacekeepers perform, the funding for the operations, and the specific political interests of contributors influence the likelihood of securing peace in war-torn countries. [Extracted from the article]

Previous studies have highlighted that United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are effective at reducing violence during civil wars. But can these operations also change the incentives of the warring parties and lead them to pursue non-violent alternatives? This article provides the first direct test of UN peacekeeping troops' effectiveness at inducing non-violent engagements, specifically negotiations during civil wars. Our analysis of disaggregated monthly data on peace operations, negotiations, and violence in African conflicts (1989–2009) reveals that sizable deployments of UN military troops, by themselves, are insufficient to foster negotiations, even when they reduce battlefield violence. Instead, the probability of negotiation instances is conditional on rebel tactics. We posit, when rebels engage in terrorism, peacekeeping troops can inadvertently alter the "power to hurt" of the belligerents in favor of rebel groups and create conditions conducive to negotiations. Our results have important implications for research on the effectiveness of both peacekeeping and terrorism and for policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States covet leadership and staff positions in international organizations. The posts of civilian leaders and force commanders of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are attractive to member states. In selecting peacekeeping leaders, the UN Secretariat balances three considerations: satisfying powerful member states by appointing their nationals; recognizing member states' contribution to the work of the organization; and ensuring that leaders have the necessary skill set. We investigate appointments of more than 200 civilian and military leaders in 24 UN missions, 1990–2017. We find that contributing troops to a specific mission increases the chances of securing a peacekeeping leadership position. Geographic proximity between the leaders' country and the conflict country is also a favorable factor whose importance has increased over time. Civilian leaders of UN peacekeeping operations tend to hail from institutionally powerful countries, while military commanders come from major, long-standing troop contributing countries. Despite some role that skills play in the appointment process, the UN's dependence on troop contributors, together with its reliance on institutionally powerful states, can be a source of dysfunction if it prevents the organization from selecting effective peacekeeping leaders. This dynamic affects other international organizations that have significant power disparities among members or rely on voluntary contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do peacekeeping missions facilitate nonviolent political contention in post–civil war countries? The nonviolent expression of political grievances is a crucial part of the post–civil war peace-building process but is understudied thus far. We claim that the presence of peacekeepers significantly contributes to establishing a secure environment for nonviolent political contention, particularly nonviolent public protest. In addition, we claim that peacekeeping missions with personnel from countries with robust civil societies are more likely to promote nonviolent political contention because of prior socialization to civic engagement and bottom-top political participation. This is particularly true for UN police personnel (UNPOL), who both train local police forces and have the most direct interaction with protesters. We test our hypotheses using a newly crafted dataset on nonviolent protests in post–civil war countries and peacekeeping missions' presence, size, and home-country composition. We find that peacekeeping missions' presence significantly increases nonviolent protests in post–civil war country-years. This effect is largely explained by the presence of UNPOL from countries with strong civil societies. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of post–civil war political revitalization and policy implications for the composition of peacekeeping missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since independence and up until now Ukraine has tried to shape its security priorities and to define and implement key policies into its main security-related documents: laws, strategies, and defense policy ("military doctrine"). Ukraine also invested its hopes into the development of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), planned to enhance its participation in the activities of North Atlantic Co-operation Council (NACC), and the North Atlantic Assembly (NAA), expecting that the activities of these institutions would contribute to shaping the new architecture of pan-European security and assuming that belonging to the latter would be crucial for Ukraine's national security. First, in 2010 the pro-presidential majority in the Parliament of Ukraine passed the Law No 2411-VI "On the Basics of Internal and External Policy."[12] The document stated that Ukraine, as a European country that did not belong to any military block, had an open foreign policy, and sought co-operation with any interested partners, whilst avoiding dependence on any country, groups of counties, or international organisations. Ukraine was the first non-allied country to contribute military capabilities to the NATO Response Force.[26]Under OSCE umbrella Ukraine has taken part in OSCE missions in Kosovo, Georgia, Macedonia, and Kyrgyzstan. [Extracted from the article]

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 highlights the distinct needs of women in security and well-being. Few studies explore how peacekeeping affects women's access to health and education. Yet, women's access to public services such as health is a form of gender inequality in post-conflict countries leading to unbalanced distribution of resources. We argue that peacekeeping operations (PKOs) have both a direct and an important indirect impact on maternal health and women's well-being. First, peacekeeping can have a direct effect by providing medical and training facilities. Second, peacekeeping has an indirect effect as improvement in the overall level of security facilitates women's access to medical services and education. We evaluate our argument by combining evidence from different levels of analysis. First, we use a difference-in-difference analysis of 45 African countries with data between 1990 and 2013, comparing the changes in maternal mortality rates (MMR) for countries with and without PKOs. Second, we look at within-country variations across areas with and without UN peacekeeping deployment in three countries with integrative PKOs, combining geo-coded peacekeeping data with individual data on maternal health and education from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte D'Ivoire, and Liberia. We find strong empirical support for a positive relationship between peacekeeping presence and maternal health outcomes and access to services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1988, Bangladesh has been one of the highest police contributing countries (PCCs) to United Nations Peacekeeping operations. Over the years, Bangladesh Police has not only carved out space for itself as a top PCC, but also earned a name for itself as a dependable force which delivered the tasks assigned to it. However, in the last few years, Bangladesh Police has seen a fall in deployment to various missions due to an increasing number of participation of other new contributors across the world. Moreover, there are significant transformations in the nature of conflict and mandates of peacekeeping operations which would require Bangladesh Police to be prepared itself for future participation in such missions. Against such a backdrop, this article examines how Bangladeshi police peacekeepers evaluate their participation in peace missions and their capacity in addressing the challenges of the contemporary and future peace missions. It also investigates issues of capacity building, skill enhancement, and increasing competency of Bangladesh police peacekeepers as perceived by themselves. This article argues Bangladesh needs to comprehend the changing scenario and enhance the capacity of police peacekeepers by undertaking appropriate measures including tapping into the experience of its returning police personnel. Otherwise, the sustainability of Bangladesh's participation in UN police peacekeeping deployments may face severe stress and become problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 proffered the opportunity to promote intergroup solidarity and enhance coexistence in the dichotomised island of Cyprus. Nevertheless, devices put in place as drastic preventive measures not only incited internal and external reactions, but also resulted in further distancing the two communities. Preventive policies and mecha-nisms implemented during the pandemic were introduced in the form of exceptional orders' which prioritised the protection of public health; thus, they remained in an external relationship to normative constitutional law. In an attempt to cope with the COVID-19 state, emergency measures that generated ambiguities within the exercising powers, since different parts of the Cypriot Consti-tution delimit the role of each government branch, were determined. Ergo, constitutional-compliance questions emerged as per the laws applied and interpreted in the aftermath of the emergency promulgation, examining whether rights under human rights law remained aligned with the rule of law and whether these means were upheld in the context of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]