![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article argues that UN peace operations play a central role in the nexus between policing and counterinsurgency, and constitute one of the underappreciated sites and circuits of counterinsurgent knowledge. It posits that the convergence between peace operations and counterinsurgency has been driven not only (or even primarily) by these mission’s more assertive military posture under ‘stabilization’, but also by the turn to ‘polickeeping’, the growing role of police forces and increasing importance of policing tasks in peacekeeping. The stabilization/policekeeping mindset rests on the assumption of a continuum from minor instances of disorders to full-blown armed conflict, leading to an expansive understanding of what may constitute a threat to stability and require international intervention. The articles teases out the macro and micro manifestations of this mindset through the lens of UN peace operations’ response to civil unrest and demonstrations. It shows that, because peace operations are a point of cross-fertilization for the creation and transmission of global policing practices, UN protest policing reverberates beyond the specific countries in which peace operations are deployed. Peace operations create a global demand for and supply of specific skills and tools, in particular paramilitary police forces.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Monthly summary of military and police contribution to United Nations operations, https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/0_front_page_msr_december_2020.pdf, accessed 12 March 2021.
2. See e.g. Hunt, “All Necessary Means to What Ends?;” Tardy, “A Critique of Robust Peacekeeping;” Johnstone, “Dilemmas of Robust Peace Operations.”
3. Heiduk, “Rethinking “Policebuilding”.”
4. E.g. Sebastián, The Role of Police in UN Peace Operations.
5. Schrader, Badges without Borders, 13.
6. On reverberation, see Barder, Empire Within.
7. For an account of the lead up to the coup and the international community’s role, see e.g. Dupuy, The Prophet and Power.
8. Dorn, “Intelligence-Led Peacekeeping;” Dziedzic and Perito, Haiti: Confronting the Gangs of Port-Au‑Prince.
9. Lemay-Hébert, “Living in the Yellow Zone.”
10. McGill Research Ethics Board I, file 456–0417.
11. See e.g. Karlsrud, The UN at War.
12. Gorur, Defining the Boundaries of UN Stabilization Missions, 21.
13. Guéhenno, The Fog of Peace, 159.
14. Paddon Rhoads, Taking Sides in Peacekeeping.
15. E.g. Berdal, “The State of UN Peacekeeping.”
16. Friis, “Peacekeeping and Counter-Insurgency,” 49.
17. Cable, “Reinventing the Round Wheel;” Mockaitis, “From Counterinsurgency to Peace Enforcement.”
18. Mackinlay, The Insurgent Archipelago.
19. Howard, “Peacekeeping Is Not Counterinsurgency.” For a contrasting perspective, see Brocades Zaalberg, “Counterinsurgency and Peace Operations,” 93
20. Ibid., 74–75.
21. See e.g. Sebastián, The Role of Police in UN Peace Operations.
22. Rotmann, “First Steps Towards a Police Doctrine for UN Peace Operations,” 84.
23. United Nations, Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, para 40.
24. Smith, Holt, and Durch, Enhancing United Nations Capacity.
25. For an overview, see e.g. Greener, “The Rise of Policing in Peace Operations.”
26. Paddon Rhoads, Taking Sides in Peacekeeping, 2.
27. Hills, “Insurgency, Counterinsurgency and Policing,” 100.
28. Cockayne and Lupel, “ Rethinking the Relationship between Peace Operations and Organized Crime,” 5 & 8.
29. de Boer and Bosetti, “The Crime-Conflict “Nexus”.”
30. Kemp, Shaw, and Boutellis, The Elephant in the Room.
31. Although for a more nuanced understanding of the role of criminal actors, see e.g. Cockayne and Lupel, Peace Operations and Organized Crime.
32. Kemp, Shaw, and Boutellis, The Elephant in the Room, 8.
33. Willmot, Sheeran, and Sharland, Safety and Security Challenges in Un Peace Operations.
34. UNDSS, Security Policy Manual, 3.
35. Ibid., 70.
36. UN Archives, S-1829-228-3, 33.
37. Interview 34, Port-au-Prince, July 2017.
38. UN Security Council, UN Doc. S/2009/439, 3. Emphasis added.
39. UN Security Council, UN Doc. S/2013/139, 3. Emphasis added.
40. UN DPKO/DFS, Policy (Revised), Formed Police Units, 3–4.
41. Rocca, “Training the Police Component of Pkos.”220.
42. Schweingruber, “Mob Sociology and Escalated Force.”
43. UN DPKO/DFS, Crowd Dynamics in Public Order Ops, 7.
44. Compare US Department of the Army, US Army Stability Operations Field Manual, 6; and UN DPKO/DFS, Public Order Management, Crowd Dynamics in Public Order Ops, 7–8.
45. Momboisse, Riots, Revolts, and Insurrections, 6.
46. Le Bon, The Crowd, 16.
47. See e.g. McPhail, The Myth of the Madding Crowd.
48. Hoggett and Stott, “The Role of Crowd Theory in Determining the Use of Force in Public Order Policing;” Schweingruber, “Mob Sociology and Escalated Force.”
49. UN DPKO/DFS, Crowd Dynamics in Public Order Ops, 16–17.
50. Ibid., 18.
51. UN DPKO/DFS, Crowd Control Orders, 7.
52. UN DPKO/DFS, Attack with Firearms and Explosives, 1.
53. Gorringe and Rosie, “King Mob.” Emphasis in original.
54. UN Security Council, UN Doc. S/2009/439, 20.
55. See note 42 above.
56. Ibid., 378.
57. Interview 30, Port-au-Prince, July 2017; Interview 38, Port-au-Prince, July 2017.
58. Vitale, “From Negotiated Management to Command and Control,” 294.
59. Interview 38, Port-au-Prince, July 2017.
60. UN Security Council, UN doc. S/2017/604, 3.
61. Interview 3, Port-au-Prince, May 2017.
62. Radio Kiskeya, “Des Organisations De Défense Des Droits Humains Déclinent Une Invitation De La Ministre Des Droits Humains.”
63. Hill, Beger, and Zanetti, “Plugging the Security Gap or Springing a Leak,” 310.
64. US Department of State, Presidential Decision Directive 71.
65. See note 63 above. 312.
66. CoESPU, The Future Roles for Stability Police Units Workshop, 4.
67. COESPU, USIP, and PKSOI, The Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units, 2.
68. Hovens, “Stability Policing,” 494.
69. Gill and Huang, “China’s Expanding Role in Peacekeeping,” 3.
70. Wangshu, “Peacekeeping Police a “Pillar Force”, Ministry Official Says.”
71. According to the French embassy in Cameroon, https://cm.ambafrance.org/Action-de-visibilite-dans-le-but, accessed 10 March 2021.
72. EIFORCES website, www.eiforces.gov.cm/en/cooperation-and-partnerships/, accessed 10 March 2021.
73. See UNITAR website, https://unitar.org/pre-deployment-formed-police-units-fpu, accessed 12 March 2021.
74. See EMP website, https://www.empbamako.org/en/lemp-contributors/, accessed 12 March 2021.
75. Hill, Beger, and Zanetti, “Plugging the Security Gap or Springing a Leak;” Schrader, Badges without Borders.
76. According to the UN peacekeeping website, https://peackeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors, accessed 11 March 2021.
77. See e.g. Hills, “The Inherent Limits of Military Forces in Policing Peace Operations;” Wiatrowski, Pino and Pritchard, “Policing and Formed Police Units during Democratic Transitions.”
78. Hill, Beger, and Zanetti, “Plugging the Security Gap or Springing a Leak.”
79. Friesendorf, “Paramilitarization and Security Sector Reform.”
80. Greener, “WPS and Policing: New Terrain.”
81. Carpenter and Sharwood-Smith, 187.
82. Levine, African Civilian Police Capacity for International Peacekeeping Operations, 16.
83. Hill and Beger, “A Paramilitary Policing Juggernaut,” 25.
84. See also Hill, Beger, and Zanetti, “Plugging the Security Gap or Springing a Leak.”
85. See note 66above, 4.
86. Lutterbeck, “Between Police and Military,” 62. See also Penksa, “Security Governance, Complex Peace Support Operations and the Blurring of Civil–Military Tasks,” 41.
87. See for instance MINUSTAH’S website on a 2014 training session with UDMO, https://minustah.unmissions.org/cap-haitien-l%E2%80%99udmo-renforc%C3%A9e-en-technique-et-tactiques-dinterventions, accessed 12 March 2021.
88. Cadet, “Boid: Une Nouvelle Unité Au Sein De La PNH.”
89. André Joseph, “La PNH Compte Plus De 600 Nouveaux Policiers.”
90. Mazower, No Enchanted Palace.
91. Cunliffe, Legions of Peace.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Lou Pingeot
Lou Pingeotis a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the Université de Montréal. She is a graduate of McGill University (PhD, 2020) and Sciences Po Paris (MA, 2010). Between her MA and PhD she worked for a New York-based non-profit organization that monitors the work of the United Nations, where she wrote policy reports on issues ranging from the use of private security contractors by the UN to corporate influence in the UN’s development policies. She is broadly interested in questions of global governance and global justice. Her current research explores the co-constitution of global and domestic social orders, of external and internal security, by investigating the role of police and prison in international relations.