International Studies Review (2020) 0, 1–26
ANALYTICAL ESSAY
Pinioning the Peacekeepers: Sovereignty,
Host-State Resistance against Peacekeeping
Missions, and Violence against Civilians
A LLARD D UURSMA
ETH Zürich
Why and how do host-states resist contemporary peacekeeping missions?
This article puts forward the argument that host-state resistance against
peacekeepers is a strategy to balance challenges to the internal and exter-
nal faces of a civil war state’s sovereignty. Government officials might see
an intense counter-insurgency campaign as an effective way to regain the
monopoly on violence and thus strengthen the internal sovereignty of the
state, but this will often lead to criticism from the international community
and thus also lead to an erosion of the external sovereignty of the state.
Conversely, the acceptance of a peacekeeping mission can strengthen a
civil war state’s external sovereignty as this acceptance signals a willingness
to manage armed violence, but the deployment of peacekeepers is at the
expense of internal sovereignty as it often limits the ability of government
troops to conduct their counter-insurgency efforts. States can resolve
this dilemma by accepting a peacekeeping mission to prop up their
external sovereignty, but at the same time trying to limit the effectiveness
of peacekeepers in those areas where peacekeeping activities potentially
interfere with the efforts of government troops to regain the monopoly
on the use of violence. The article zooms in on how the Sudanese gov-
ernment accepted the deployment of the United Nations–African Union
Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), but at the same undermined
its civilian protection efforts, though other cases are considered as well.
Resumen:¿Por qué y cómo los estados de acogida resisten las misiones
contemporáneas para preservar la paz? En este artículo se argumenta
que la resistencia de los estados de acogida frente a las fuerzas que se
encargan de preservar la paz es una estrategia para equilibrar los desafíos
de los aspectos internos y externos de la soberanía de un estado de guerra
civil. Puede que los funcionarios del gobierno vean una intensa campaña
de contrainsurgencia a modo de método efectivo para recuperar el
monopolio de la violencia y así fortalecer la soberanía interna del estado,
pero a menudo, esto da lugar a las críticas de la comunidad internacional
y también a una erosión de la soberanía externa del estado. En cambio,
la aceptación de una misión para preservar la paz puede fortalecer la
soberanía externa de un estado de guerra civil, ya que esta aceptación es
una señal de predisposición para controlar la violencia armada, pero el
despliegue de las fuerzas encargadas de preservar la paz ocurre a costa de
la soberanía interna, ya que, a menudo, limita la capacidad de las tropas
del gobierno de llevar a cabo intentos de contrainsurgencia. Los estados
pueden resolver este dilema aceptando una misión para preservar la paz
Duursma, Allard. (2020) Pinioning the Peacekeepers: Sovereignty, Host-State Resistance against Peacekeeping Missions, and
Violence against Civilians. International Studies Review, doi: 10.1093/isr/viaa063
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