Regional peacekeeping operations: Complementing or undermining the united nations security council?1

1 The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and Tona M. Boyd for proofreading.

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the perils and benefits of regional peacekeeping operations (PKOs), with a special focus on their ability to serve as a complement to and/or enhancement of their United Nations (UN) counterparts. The author contends that there are two sides to the debate about the regionalization of peacekeeping. On one hand, regional PKOs offer a number of advantages to their purely UN counterparts, primarily due to their proximity to conflict zones, common culture, and greater legitimacy. On the other hand, past experience with regional PKOs suggests that there are significant problems with the idea of regionalization as an optimum mechanism for organizing PKOs. Serious doubts remain about whether the need and desire for cooperation between the UN and regional arrangements (RAs) will ultimately translate into a workable and efficient system.

Notes

1 The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and Tona M. Boyd for proofreading.

2 UN General Assembly, ‘Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations Organization and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization’, A/RES/46/58, (9 December 1991), < http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/46/a46r058.htm > (accessed 10 January 2005); Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace (New York: United Nations, 1992); UN General Assembly, ‘Comprehensive Review of the Whole Question of Peacekeeping Operations in All Their Aspects’, A/RES/48/42, (10 December 1993), < http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r042.htm > (accessed 12 October 2004); and a number of other UN reports and journal articles cited in the following.

4 Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace, para. 35.

3 Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace, para. 61.

5 Michael Barnett, ‘Partners in Peace? The UN, Regional Organizations and Peacekeeping’, Review of International Studies, 21, 4, (October 1995), p. 418.

6 Richard Jones and Tamara Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping: The UN & Regional Organizations’, Peacekeeping & International Relations, 25, 3, (May/June 1996), p. 5.

7 Michael Pugh and Wahegure Pal Singh Sidhu, ‘Introduction’, in Michael Pugh and Wahegure Pal Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, (Boulder, CO and London, UK: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003), p. 2.

8 The 15 RAs represented include the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Commonwealth of Independent States, the British Commonwealth Secretariat, the Economic Community of West African States, the European Union (EU), the League of Arab States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the African Union (formerly the Organization of African Unity (OAU)), the Organization of American States (OAS), the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Western European Union: Pugh and Singh Sidhu, ‘Introduction’, p. 2.

9 Nina Graeger and Alexandra Novosseloff, ‘The Role of the OSCE and the EU’, in Pugh and Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, p. 76.

10 In contrast, as Graeger and Novosseloff have noted, the UN Security Council has very often expressly named the OAU, OAS, and OSCE (i.e. RAs formally recognized as such by the UN General Assembly) in the text of its resolutions: ‘The Security Council therefore draws a distinction between the organizations formally recognized by the General Assembly and the others, and between civilian military organizations and military alliances. In practice, however, the Council uses the regional organizations that are most able to fulfill the tasks it assigns them.’ Graeger and Novosseloff, ‘The Role of the OSCE and the EU’, p. 76.

11 Davidson Black, ‘Widening the Spectrum: Regional Organizations in Peacekeeping Operations’, Peacekeeping & International Relations, 25, 3, (May/June 1996), p. 7.

12 Black, ‘Widening the Spectrum: Regional Organizations in Peacekeeping Operations’, pp. 7–8.

13 Michael Pugh, ‘The World Order Politics of Regionalization’, in Pugh and Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, p. 33.

14 Justin Morris and Hilairre McCoubrey, ‘Regional Peacekeeping in the Post-Cold War Era’, International Peacekeeping, 6, 2, (Summer 1999), p. 142.

15 According to Louise Fawcett, RA appearance in the final version of the UN Charter followed representations from states with investments in the few pre-World War II regional arrangements such as the Inter-American System, the Arab League, and the Commonwealth. It was suggested that ‘[i]t was particularly the Latin American states, fearing the consequences of U.S. hegemony and veto power, who saw in the Organization of American States a vehicle for containment, which pressed for this clause.’ Louise Fawcett, ‘The Evolving Architecture of Regionalization’, in Pugh and Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, p. 13.

16 Henry Wiseman, Peacekeeping: Appraisals & Proposals, (New York: Pergamon Press, 1983), p. 258.

17 Pugh and Singh Sidhu, ‘Introduction’, p. 3.

18 Fawcett, ‘The Evolving Architecture of Regionalization’, p. 14.

19 Fawcett, ‘The Evolving Architecture of Regionalization’, p. 15.

20 Thomas Weiss, Beyond UN Subcontracting: Task-Sharing with Regional Security Arrangement and Service-Providing NGOs, (London: Macmillan, 1998), p. xii.

22 ‘Comprehensive Review of the Whole Question of Peacekeeping Operations in All Their Aspects’, para. 65, http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r042.htm (accessed 6 December 2004).

21 Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations Organization and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, para. 4, < http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/46/a46r058.htm > (accessed 6 December 2004).

23 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Supplement to an Agenda for Peace, (New York: United Nations, 1995), pp. 31–32.

25 UN High-level Panel on Threats, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility (1 December 2004), < http://www.un.org/secureworld/report3.pdf >,(accessed 2 December 2004).

27 UN High-level Panel on Threats, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, para. 272, http://www.un.org/secureworld/report3.pdf (accessed 2 December 2004).

24 United Nations, ‘Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations’ (21 August 2000), < http://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations/ >, (accessed 16 October 2004).

26 UN High-level Panel on Threats, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, para. 271, http://www.un.org/secureworld/report3.pdf (accessed 2 December 2004).

28 Kofi Annan, ‘In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All’, United Nations, (21 March 2005), para. 215, < http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/270/78/PDF/N0527078.pdf?OpenElement > (accessed 23 September 2005).

29 United Nations, ‘2005 World Summit Outcome’ (20 September 2005), para. 93, < http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N05/511/30/PDF/N0551130.pdf?OpenElement > (accessed 25 September 2005).

30 United Nations, ‘2005 World Summit Outcome’, para. 100, < http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N05/511/30/PDF/N0551130.pdf?OpenElement > (accessed 25 September 2005).

31 Paul F Diehl, ‘Institutional Alternatives to Traditional UN Peacekeeping: An Assessment of Regional and Multinational Options’, Armed Forces & Society, 19, 2, (Winter 1993), p. 210.

32 Peace-cum operations by RAs encompass a wide range of activities, including peacemaking (actions to bring hostile parties to agreement, essentially through such peaceful means as those foreseen in Chapter VI), peacekeeping (operations undertaken with consent of all major parties to a conflict, intended to facilitate the implementation of ceasefire or peace agreement), peace enforcement (operations that seek to impose the will of the Security Council by direct military action, often without the consent of some local parties) and post-conflict peacebuilding (actions to identify and support structures that will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict). There is much debate about the precise distinctions between these four types of activities, especially when it comes to determining where peacekeeping ends and peace enforcement begins. The resolution of this debate is beyond the scope of this article.

33 In the summer of 2003, the EU conducted its first full-fledged peacekeeping operation in north-eastern Congo (operation ‘Artemis’). The experiences with this operation subsequently inspired the EU Member States to entertain the idea of forming small, rapidly deployable units (so-called ‘Battle Groups’) that would be able to intervene in conflicts far outside of Europe, with their main focus being Africa and their aim being the stabilization of the situation until sufficient military forces—UN peacekeeping troops or armed forces from other organizations—were available. The formation of 13 such Battle Groups was formally approved by the EU Member States on 22 November 2004. As with several other previous EU initiatives in the area of European Security and Defence Policy, however, the Battle Group concept raises multiple military, implementation and financing questions that have not yet been answered accordingly. Perhaps most importantly, the EU presently lacks the requirements to deploy the Battle Groups far beyond its own borders. For more information on the Battle Groups initiative, see Karl-Heinz Kamp, ‘European “Battle Groups”: A New Stimulus for the European Security and Defense Policy?’, in Analysen und Argumente of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (15 December 2004), < www.kas.de/db_files/dokumente/7_dokument_dok_pdf_5851_1.pdf > (accessed 24 September 2005).

34 For more information on NATO's new out-of-area roles, see Dick A. Leurdijk, ‘The UN and NATO: The Logic of Primacy’, in Pugh and Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, pp. 57–74. It is important to note, however, that, strictly speaking, NATO does not consider itself a regional organization but rather a defense alliance. Some observers also maintain that military organizations such as NATO are ill suited to handle multidimensional civilian tasks or to work in close proximity with the aid organizations or local populations, which is one of the keys to successful peacekeeping. In Bosnia, NATO has been able to partly overcome this handicap by working closely with the OSCE and the UN. For more information, see Walter Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’, Peacekeeping & International Relations, 27, 3/4, (July–October 1998), pp. 1–4.

35 These include the Operation Center within the organization's Secretariat for planning and implementing OSCE field operations; and the Rapid Expert Assistance and Cooperation Teams mechanism, which was established to facilitate and improve the selection and the recruitment of personnel for field missions. For more information on OSCE's peacekeeping initiatives, see Graeger and Novosseloff, ‘The Role of the OSCE and the EU’, p. 84.

36 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’, p. 5.

37 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’, p. 5.

38 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’, p. 5.

39 Morris and McCoubrey, ‘Regional Peacekeeping in the Post-Cold War Era’, p. 142.

40 Cited in Brian L. Job, ‘The UN, Regional Organizations, and Regional Conflict: Is There a Viable Role for the UN?’, in Richard M. Price and Mark W. Zacher (eds), The United Nations and Global Security, (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004), p. 235.

41 Morris and McCoubrey, ‘Regional Peacekeeping in the Post-Cold War Era’, p. 140.

42 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’, p. 5.

43 Hugo J. Dobson, ‘Regional Approaches to Peacekeeping Activities: The Case of the ASEAN Regional Forum’, International Peacekeeping, 6, 2, (Summer 1999), p. 152.

44 See Alan Dupont, ‘ASEAN's Response to the East Timor Crisis’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 54, 2, (2000), pp. 163–170.

45 Morris and McCoubrey, ‘Regional Peacekeeping in the Post-Cold War Era’, p. 140.

46 Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’, p. 1.

47 Black, ‘Widening the Spectrum: Regional Organizations in Peacekeeping Operations’; Diehl, ‘Institutional Alternatives to Traditional UN Peacekeeping’; Fawcett, ‘The Evolving Architecture of Regionalization’; Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’; Maurice Marnika, ‘Regional Peacekeeping: The Case for Complementary Efforts’, Peacekeeping & International Relations, 251, 3, (May/June 1996), p. 9; Ian Martin, ‘Is the Regionalization of Peace Operations Desirable?’, in Pugh and Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, pp. 47–54; Pugh, ‘The World Order Politics of Regionalization’; Weiss, Beyond UN Subcontracting: Task-Sharing with Regional Security Arrangement and Service-Providing NGOs.

48 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’; Marnika, ‘Regional Peacekeeping: The Case for Complementary Efforts’, p. 10.

49 Cyrus Samii and Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, ‘Strengthening Regional Approaches to Peace Operations’, in Pugh and Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, p. 259.

50 Alex J. Bellamy and Paul Williams, ‘Conclusion: What Future for Peace Operations? Brahimi and Beyond’, International Peacekeeping, 11, 1, (Spring 2004), p. 195.

51 Alex J. Bellamy, Paul Williams and Stuart Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping, (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2004), p. 214; Paul F. Diehl, International Peacekeeping, (Baltimore, MD and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), p. 124; Marnika, ‘Regional Peacekeeping: The Case for Complementary Efforts’, p. 10.

52 See, for example, Bellamy, Williams, and Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping, pp. 173–178.

53 Bellamy, Williams, and Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping, p. 214; Diehl, ‘Institutional Alternatives to Traditional UN Peacekeeping’; Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping: The UN & Regional Organizations’, p. 7.

54 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’, p. 7.

55 Samii and Singh Sidhu, ‘Strengthening Regional Approaches to Peace Operations’, p. 259.

56 Samii and Singh Sidhu, ‘Strengthening Regional Approaches to Peace Operations’, p. 259.

57 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’, p. 7, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 9307235003 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

58 Diehl, ‘Institutional Alternatives to Traditional UN Peacekeeping’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 9307235003 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

59 Diehl, ‘Institutional Alternatives to Traditional U.N. Peacekeeping’.

60 Bellamy, Williams, and Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping, p. 214; Diehl, International Peacekeeping, p. 125.

61 For more information about United Nations Mission in Kosovo, see United Nations, UNMIK, (2001), < http://www.unmikonline.org/index.html > (accessed 29 October 2005).

62 Diehl, International Peacekeeping, p. 126.

63 Diehl, International Peacekeeping, pp. 125–126.

64 Jones and Duffey, ‘Sharing the Burden of Peacekeeping’, p. 7.

65 Bellamy, Williams, and Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping, p. 214.

66 Job, ‘The UN, Regional Organizations, and Regional Conflict: Is There a Viable Role for the UN?’, p. 235.

67 In contrast, NATO's military budget for 2001 was US$716 million: Job, ‘The UN, Regional Organizations, and Regional Conflict: Is There a Viable Role for the UN?’ p. 236.

68 Eric G. Berman and Katie E. Sams, ‘The Limits of Regional Peacekeeping in Africa’, Peacekeeping & International Relations, 28, 4, (July/August 1999), pp. 1–2.

69 Bellamy and Williams, ‘Conclusion: What Future for Peace Operations? Brahimi and Beyond’ p. 194, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 9307235003 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

70 Diehl, ‘Institutional Alternatives to Traditional UN Peacekeeping’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 9609305129 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

71 Marnika, ‘Regional Peacekeeping: The Case for Complementary Efforts’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 1458919 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

72 Some authors have, for example, maintained that ECOWAC's bloody peacekeeping ‘intervention’ in Liberia ‘did not do justice to the term peacekeeping.’ Among other things, they point out to the fact that, after widespread looting and uncontrolled black market activity by ECOMOG forces, the locals in Liberia put new words to the ECOMOG acronym: “Every Car or Movable Object Gone!” Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’.

73 Bellamy, Williams, and Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping, p. 215, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 1458919 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

74 Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 9307235003 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

75 Diehl, ‘Institutional Alternatives to Traditional UN Peacekeeping’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 1458919 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

76 Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 9307235003 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

77 Diehl, International Peacekeeping, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 960930512977 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

78 Marnika, ‘Regional Peacekeeping: The Case for Complementary Efforts’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 1458919 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

79 Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’, full text available online through Academic Search Premier, < http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 9307235003 > (accessed 6 December 2004).

80 Diehl, International Peacekeeping.

81 Bellamy, Williams, and Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping, p. 215.

82 UN News Service, ‘AU Force in Sudan Needs More Backing, Nigeria's President Tells Security Council’, UN News Center, < http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID = 12043&Cr = sudan&Cr1 = &Kw1 = Force&Kw2 = AU&Kw3 = Nigerian >,(accessed 24 September 2004), full text available online through Academic Search Premier, http://search.epnet.com.lib-proxy.nd.edu/login.aspx?direct = true&db = aph&an = 1458919.

83 Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’, UN News Service, ‘AU Force in Sudan Needs More Backing, Nigeria's President Tells Security Council’, UN News Center, http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp? NewsID 1/4 12043&Cr 1/4 sudan&Cr1 1/4 &Kw1 1/4 Force&Kw2 1/4 AU&Kw3 1/4 Nigerian, (accessed 24 September 2004), (accessed 6 December 2004).

84 Dorn, ‘Regional Peacekeeping Is Not the Way’.

85 Bellamy and Williams, ‘Conclusion: What Future for Peace Operations? Brahimi and Beyond’, p. 194.

86 Mary McKenzie, ‘The UN and Regional Organizations’, in Edward Newman and Oliver P. Richmond (eds), The United Nations and Human Security, (London: Palgrave, 2001), p. 165.

88 Marrack Goulding, Peamonger, (London: John Murray, 2002), p. 218.

87 Morris and McCoubrey, ‘Regional Peacekeeping in the Post-Cold War Era’, p. 133.

89 Bellamy and Williams, ‘Conclusion: What Future for Peace Operations? Brahimi and Beyond’, p. 196.

90 Martin, ‘Is the Regionalization of Peace Operations Desirable?’ p. 54.