"Partnership" is a key concept in contemporary international peace operations. There is no universal model of peace operations in contemporary international society. Ad hoc arrangements of "partnership" between the United Nations and various regional organizations are consequences of the complex circumstances of international security. The ways in which "partnerships" are organised differently in different regions reflect each region's distinctive security situation. The universal nature of "liberal peacebuilding" is thus maintained only by ad hoc arrangements. All the UN peacekeeping operations in Africa have some partnership linkages with regional or sub-regional organizations ranging from the African Union (AU) and regional mechanisms to the European Union (EU). What are the conditions and characteristics that enable or lead to partnership peacekeeping in Africa? How should we understand lower levels of partnership peacekeeping in other regions? By highlighting key characteristics of partnership peacekeeping, the book explores these issues and argues that partnership is a reflection of political circumstances. The book provides an unexplored but critical perspective to understand the contemporary world for those who study International Relations, Security Studies, International Organizations, and Peace Studies.

The Oxford Handbook on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations presents an innovative, authoritative, and accessible examination and critique of the United Nations peacekeeping operations. Since the late 1940s, but particularly since the end of the cold war, peacekeeping has been a central part of the core activities of the United Nations and a major process in global security governance and the management of international relations in general. The volume will present a chronological analysis, designed to provide a comprehensive perspective that highlights the evolution of UN peacekeeping and offers a detailed picture of how the decisions of UN bureaucrats and national governments on the set-up and design of particular UN missions were, and remain, influenced by the impact of preceding operations. The volume will bring together leading scholars and senior practitioners in order to provide overviews and analyses of all 65 peacekeeping operations that have been carried out by the United Nations since 1948. As with all Oxford Handbooks, the volume will be agenda-setting in importance, providing the authoritative point of reference for all those working throughout international relations and beyond.

The volume is the first comprehensive overview of multiple theoretical perspectives on UN peace operations, with two main uses. First, it provides practical examples of how International Relations theories - realism, liberal institutionalism, rational choice institutionalism, sociological institutionalism, constructivism, practice theories, critical security studies, feminist institutionalism, and complexity theory - can be applied to a specific policy issue. Second, it demonstrates how major debates on UN peace operations - regarding protection of civilians, local ownership, or gender mainstreaming - benefit from a theoretical exploration. The volume is aimed at three audiences: scholars who want to keep up to date with the latest research on UN peace operations; undergraduate and postgraduate students who either seek to understand International Relations theories in general or are interested in UN peace operations..

"This book focuses on the collaboration that takes place in the field of conflict management between the global centre and the African regional level. It moves beyond the dominant framework on regional-global security partnerships, which mainly considers one-sided legal and political factors. Instead, new perspectives on the relationships are presented through the lens of international legitimacy. The book argues that the AU and the UN Security Council fight for legitimacy to ensure their positions of authority and to improve the chances of success of their activities. It demonstrates in regard to the case of Darfur why and how legitimacy matters for states, international organisations, and also for global actors and local populations." -- Page [iii] of paperback version.

Includes statistics.

The deployment of a large number of soldiers, police officers and civilian personnel inevitably has various effects on the host society and economy, not all of which are in keeping with the peacekeeping mandate and intent or are easily discernible prior to the intervention. This book is one of the first attempts to improve our understanding of unintended consequences of peacekeeping operations, by bringing together field experiences and academic analysis. The aim of the book is not to discredit peace operations but rather to improve the way in which such operations are planned and managed.

UN peace operations are increasingly asked to pursue stabilization mandates with lofty expectations of being able to stabilize conflict zones, achieve national reconciliation, and rebuild state legitimacy. This book investigates the relationship between UN stabilization mandates and the concept of ‘human security’. The book is divided into three parts. Part I outlines the emergence of stabilization and other trends in peacekeeping practice and outlines an analytical framework of human security. Part II applies the analytical framework to case studies of MINUSMA, MINUSCA, and UNMISS examining issues, such as human rights, empowerment, protection, and vulnerability. In Part III the book draws out several concerns that arise from stabilization mandates, including the militarisation of UN peace operations and the consequences under international humanitarian law, the risks of close cooperation with the host state and engagement in counter-terror activities, and the potential clash between peacebuilding activities and militarisation. The book will be a valuable resource for academics, policymakers and practitioners working on UN peacekeeping generally, and those specifically looking at stabilization, from the perspective of international relations, international law, peace and conflict studies, security studies and human rights.

Facing threats ranging from Islamist insurgencies to the Ebola pandemic, African regional actors are playing an increasingly vital role in safeguarding peace and stability across the continent. But while the African Union has demonstrated its ability to deploy forces on short notice and in difficult circumstances, the challenges posed by increasingly complex conflict zones have revealed a widening divide between the theory and practice of peacekeeping. With the AU's African Standby Force becoming fully operational in 2016, this timely and much-needed work argues that responding to these challenges will require a new and distinctively African model of peacekeeping, as well as a radical revision of the current African security framework. The first book to provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of African peace operations, The Future of African Peace Operations gives a long overdue assessment of the ways in which peacekeeping on the continent has evolved over the past decade. It will be a vital resource for policy makers, researchers and all those seeking solutions and insights into the immense security challenges which Africa is facing today.

This edited volume offers a first thorough review of peacekeeping theory and reality in contemporary contexts, and attempts to align the two to help inform practice.

Since its establishment, the UN's Peacebuilding Architecture (PBA) has been involved in peacebuilding processes in more than 20 countries. This edited volume takes stock of the overall impact of the PBA during its first decade in existence, and generates innovative recommendations for how the architecture can be modified and utilized to create more synergy and fusion between the UN's peace and development work. The volume is based on commissioned research and independent evaluations as well as informed opinions of several key decision-makers closely engaged in shaping the UN's peacebuilding agenda. It seeks to find a balance between identifying the reality and constraints of the UN's multilateral framework, while being bold in exploring new and innovative ways in which the UN can enhance the results of its peace and development work through the PBA. The research and writing of each chapter has been guided by four objectives: to assess the overall impact of the PBA; to generate innovative ideas for how the PBA can be made more effective post-2015; to analyze the PBA’s role at the nexus of the UN's peace and development work; and to consider what would be required for the PBA to increase and improve its impact in future. It will be of interest to diplomats, UN officials, the policy community and scholars engaged in the debate following the 2015 review and the implementation of its recommendations, and will be an essential resource for UN and peacebuilding scholars.