Besides the debate over peacekeeping's effectiveness in conflict resolution, the implementation of peacekeeping is another growing issue. Critics attack the "quick fix" introduction of democracy and economic transformation by external parties through peacekeeping operations. Critique centers on the rapid building of new political and economic structures without sufficient local involvement or knowledge of the local context, sufficient resources, and adequate local building capacity. Such flawed operations risk creating additional local problems and increasing existing ones.

Critics also argue that democracy and economic reform require a higher degree of internal ownership and more time to develop successfully than those few years and limited resources usually granted peacekeeping operations. Furthermore, democratization and economic reform can be conflict-creating processes by themselves, particularly in an unstable post-conflict situation. The "light footprint" approach used in Afghanistan, where the international staff mainly supports local parties, is partly in response to this critique.

Initial research findings indicate that the implementation process of peacekeeping operations has contributed to a range of social problems. Sharp increases in inflation--"bubble" economies resulting from operations with budgets substantially larger than that of the host country--resulting in higher prices for food and housing; trafficking in women and children for prostitution from surrounding countries; sharp increases in prostitution and child prostitution in the host country and surrounding countries; and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS are all serious social problems observed following peacekeeping operations. These social problems all place a high cost on the host countries--the majority of which are poor developing countries--particularly when an operation withdraws. A large number of "UN babies"--children with a local mother and a (former) peacekeeper as an absent father--is another result of many missions. The last aspect relates specifically to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Based on the mentioned effects, some researchers question the normative underpinnings of operations and the perceptions that peacekeepers hold about the local society.

The UN system has responded to the growing critique forwarded in both policy and research. For example, critique contributed to passage of UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), dealing with women, peace, and security, and General Assembly resolution 57/306 on investigating sexual misconduct of peacekeeping staff. Policies, codes of conducts, and training manuals have also been developed to improve interaction with the local population, although these policies remain far from sufficiently implemented. Taken together, peacekeeping operations increasingly attempt to handle local phenomena identified by international law as social problems, such as violence against civilians and humanitarian emergencies. However, for a number of local social problems-- ranging from economic and political side effects; human rights abuses and insecurity for vulnerable groups in the host country; and social traumas for children growing up without fathers--peacekeeping is part of the cause. The jury is still out on whether peacekeeping facilitates resolution of the social problem of armed conflict and war.

References:

1) Chandler, David. 2001. "The People-Centered Approach to Peace Operations: The New UN Agenda." International Peacekeeping 8(1):1-19.

2) Cockburn, Cynthia and Dubravka Zarkov, eds. 2002. The Postwar Moment: Militaries, Masculinities and International Peacekeeping: Bosnia and the Netherlands. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

3) Durch, William J., ed. 1994. The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping. Houndmills, England, and London: Macmillan.

4) Heldt, Birger and Peter Wallensteen. 2005. Peacekeeping Operations: Global Patterns of Intervention and Success, 1948-2004. Sandoverken, Vasternorrland, Sweden: Folke Bernadotte Academy.

5) Paris, Roland. 2004. At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

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