The Scope for Agency and the Role of Individuals in UN Peace Operations

Peacekeeping, often portrayed as a collective endeavor governed by the United Nations Security Council, is, in practice, deeply contingent on the agency of individuals, who must interpret and implement complex mandates. Academic recognition of the role played by individuals has grown recently, and existing research has gone some way to showing how the effects of individuals can be assessed empirically. Yet work in this area is relatively nascent. Significant gaps remain in our understanding of how micro-level dynamics interact with structural forces, and of the overall scope for individual agency in peace operations. An emphasis on individual agency raises a series of pressing questions, which animate the contributions to this special section. These include questions about the effects of personal attributes, like nationality or level of education, affect behavior; the impact of individuals on strategic culture and operational norms within a mission; individuals’ capacity to bring about change amid structural constraints; and questions about methodological challenges that arise when studying these micro-level dynamics. In addressing these questions, the special section contributes to ongoing scholarly debates and to contemporary peacekeeping practice, embedding the study of individual agency within broader analytical frameworks and exploring its critical role in shaping peacekeeping outcomes.