The political economy of civil wars and the future of UN peacekeeping

The article examines the UN’s encounter with the political economy of civil war, focusing on the lessons from the large multidimensional operations that have consumed the bulk of the UN’s peacekeeping attention, resources, and manpower since 1999. It argues that the UN has proven itself structurally and politically ill-equipped to undertake large-scale peace operations aimed at transforming societies riven by internal conflict. Acknowledging this does not mean that the UN has no role to play in efforts to address internal conflict, even in radically changed geopolitical circumstances. A shift in the focus and priorities of the UN’s engagement is required, however. The aim of any such shift should be to reinvigorate the UN’s capacity for engaging strategically with the politics of conflict through smaller and more agile missions, presences, and offices, structuring activities in support of political processes that are most likely to influence the balance of incentives in favour of peace and violence reduction. Crucially, this too will require engagement with, and a profound understanding of, the political economy of civil war on the part of the UN.