Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Intervention

1. Key Themes

1. Peacekeeping Challenges:

   • Peacekeeping missions often fail due to misaligned social frameworks and misperceptions of conflict dynamics.

   • Example: The UN’s failure in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992–1995) and Rwanda (1994).

2. Social Frameworks:

   • Social frames shape how actors perceive and respond to conflicts, often leading to ineffective interventions.

   • Example: The UN misclassified the Congo as "post-conflict," ignoring ongoing violence.

3. Humanitarian Intervention:

   • Humanitarian norms drive interventions, but their application is often inconsistent and politically motivated.

   • Example: NATO’s intervention in Kosovo (1999) was framed as a humanitarian mission.

4. Role of I.O.s and NGOs:

   • International organizations and NGOs often struggle to balance neutrality with the need to protect civilians.

   • Example: Doctors Without Borders abandoned neutrality in Somalia to protect aid convoys.

5. Doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P):

   • R2P emerged as a response to failures in Bosnia and Rwanda, advocating for military intervention to prevent atrocities.

   • Example: NATO’s intervention in Kosovo was a precursor to R2P.

2. Key Concepts

• Social Frames: Collective understandings that shape how actors perceive and respond to conflicts.

• Humanitarian Intervention: Military action to protect human rights, often justified by norms of humanity.

• Neutrality: The principle of not taking sides in a conflict, often challenged in humanitarian crises.

• Responsibility to Protect (R2P): A doctrine advocating for military intervention to prevent genocide and mass atrocities.

• Peacekeeping Failures: Instances where peacekeeping missions failed to prevent violence or protect civilians (e.g., Bosnia, Rwanda).

3. Key Thinkers and Their Arguments

• Auteserre:

  • Peacekeeping failures result from misaligned social frameworks that misperceive conflict dynamics.

• Barnett:

  • Humanitarian norms are inconsistently applied and often co-opted by states for political purposes.

• Kofi Annan:

  • Advocated for humanitarian intervention and R2P after failures in Bosnia and Rwanda.

4. Examples of Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Intervention

• Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992–1995):

  • The UN failed to protect civilians in "safe havens," leading to the Srebrenica massacre.

• Rwanda (1994):

  • The UN failed to prevent genocide, highlighting the limitations of peacekeeping.

• Kosovo (1999):

  • NATO intervened under the guise of humanitarianism, bombing Serbia to protect Kosovo Albanians.

• Somalia (1990s):

  • NGOs like Doctors Without Borders abandoned neutrality to protect aid convoys.