The West’s Policeman? Assessing Italy’s Status in Global Peacekeeping

ABSTRACT

Since the 1960s, and especially the 1980s, Italy has participated in and led numerous peace support operations (PSOs), predominantly under the aegis of international organisations. Italy’s participation in PSOs authorised by the UN, the EU, NATO and other multilateral agreements stems from a combination of national interest and humanitarianism/multilateralism. However, although acknowledged as a significant contributor, a clear assessment of its status in global peacekeeping is still missing. In fact, Italy plays a role that is comparatively greater than all Western nations in the international fora taken into account, and, as such, can be described as ‘the West’s policeman’, from both a quantitative (number of troops) and qualitative (role within the missions) perspective. This might be somewhat curbed in the future, however, due to some of the country’s limitations on foreign policy.     

Presence on the Ground: Expectations,Resources and Tactical Moves in the Negotiation of a UN Peacekeeping Operation in the Central African Republic

ABSTRACT

How do local situations matter? It is tempting to explain the creation of a new peacekeeping operation (PKO) by the willingness to solve a local security problem. However, main contributor countries to UN and EU PKO in the Central African Republic in 2014, have sent hundreds of troops without a genuine interest in the local situation. Thus, how, why and when links to the ground are made? Having presence on the ground gave some actors levers in the negotiations. The contact with the ground impact the construction of expectations. It is a resource for pressuring on hesitating countries.     

维和警察英语培训的思考

2011年,辽宁省公安厅组建警队赴东帝汶执行民事维和任务,省公安厅将此警队培训重任交付于辽宁公安司法管理干部学院,这是我省第一次单独组建警队执行维和任务。作为此次为何警察英语培训教师,特将此次英语培训思路、方法及内容作以介绍,并就相关内容进行思考,旨在总结此次英语培训任务,为进一步完成好积累维和警察培训工作积累经验。     

论我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动的国内立法

对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动进行国内立法是我国参与联合国警察维和行动的基本要求。我国目前有关参与联合国民事警察维和行动的国内法依据极为不健全,既没有在相关法律中进行明确规,也没有参与联合国民事警察维和行动专门法律法规,现有的零星规定也存在诸多缺陷。笔者认为,为完善有关维和法律法规,必须对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动展开专门立法。在立法模式上,由于我国军事维和已经进行了专门立法,因而可以借鉴军事维和立法模式,对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动作统一立法,或者在人民警察法中单列参与民事警察维和章节。总之,通过对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动的专门立法,不断促进我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动走上制度化、法治化水平,提高我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动的效率和影响。     

Beyond humanitarian intervention: the new politics of peacekeeping and intervention

This article reviews patterns of peacekeeping and military intervention in the post-9/11 world. It argues that while Western states have become increasingly reluctant to engage in the types of humanitarian interventions they undertook in the 1990s, a new model of peace operations is emerging that lies in the middle ground between traditional United Nations peacekeeping and classical humanitarian intervention and combines elements of both. The emergence of this new generation of peace operations indicates that, despite the post-9/11 reluctance of Western states to intervene militarily for humanitarian purposes, there is continued momentum behind the normative shift away from an absolutist conception of state sovereignty and towards the view that the international community has a right and a duty to intervene in internal conflicts and crises.     

Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness: Does Gender Neutrality Inhibit Progress?

Since the adoption of UNSCR 1325, more female peacekeepers are participating in peacekeeping missions than ever before. Nevertheless, the current literature on peacekeeping effectiveness is largely gender neutral, discounting the unique role female peacekeepers may play in peacekeeping operations. This article addresses this missing piece in the literature by assessing how female peacekeepers and locals view the role of women in peacekeeping operations. Using interviews and focus groups conducted with peacekeepers in the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and original surveys conducted in Liberian communities, it finds that there is an “access gap” that prevents female peacekeepers from fully contributing to the mission’s operations and therefore prevents the peacekeeping mission from reaching its full potential. The findings have broader implications for how to improve peacekeeping missions’ effectiveness moving forward.     

冷战后联合国维和行动发展评析

联合国维和行动是联合国维护世界和平与安全的重要手段.在美苏对峙的冷战时期,联合国维和行动的发展受到极大的抑制.冷战结束后,新的国际政治与安全形势为联合国维和行动的开展提供了前提条件和机遇,国际社会对维和行动提出了新的要求,因此联合国维和行动得到了迅速发展并表现出许多新的特点和发展趋势.但是,由于国际环境的变化和日趋复杂,冷战后的联合国维和行动也面临着一些问题与挑战,这些问题和挑战对联合国维和行动的未来发展将产生重要影响.     

中国维和警察培训课程资源探析

从课程资源的角度对中国维和警察培训进行分析,在阐明维和警察培训课程资源的概念、类型和特点的基础上论述了如何从维和课程制度资源、知识资源、人力资源、物力资源、评价资源和控制资源等六个方面进行构建,推进中国维和警察培训健康发展。     

Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policymaking?

Since the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (2000), which is referenced in most of the mandates for peacekeeping authorizations and renewals as of its adoption, UN peacekeeping forces have begun a process of gender balancing. While we have seen an increase in the numbers of female peacekeepers during the decade 2000–2010 and variation in the distribution patterns of female military personnel, we do not know if female military peacekeepers are deploying to areas that are safest or to areas with the greatest need for gender-balanced international involvement. Because the decision-making authority in the allocation of peacekeeping forces rests with the troop-contributing countries, which might not have bought into the gender balancing and mainstreaming initiatives mandated by the UN Security Council, we propose and find evidence that female military personnel tend to deploy to areas where there is least risk. They tend not to deploy where they may be most needed—where sexual violence and gender equity has been a major problem—and we find only a modest effect of having specific language in the mandates related to gender issues.     

Expanding Japan's role in the United Nations

In 1994, Japan made a bid for a permanent UNSC seat. This reflects Japan's growing influence in the United Nations as the second largest financial contributor to the regular UN budget and to the UNPKO budget. Moreover, Japan's contribution is no longer limited to the financial realm. Japan has actively participated in UNPKO since it enacted the International Peace Cooperation Law in 1992. It has sent military contingents to three UNPKO missions and a number of civilian missions. The changing international system necessitates fundamental reforms of the UNSC. The UN's fiftieth anniversary seems to be an opportune time for establishing realistic guidelines for the SC reforms to facilitate permanent membership for Japan and Germany comparable to their growing economic and political standings at the global level. In the meantime, Japan should overcome its reluctance to commit itself to UN peacemaking operations, as Germany did, and consolidate public opinion at home and abroad in support of its bid.