Democratization and UN Peacebuilding

Since the end of the Cold War, the United Nations (UN) has devoted immense human and financial resources to peacebuilding operations in war-torn states. These efforts have emphasized the role that inclusive democratic politics can play in fostering transitions to long-term peace. However, a majority of peacebuilding missions in the post-Cold War period have been followed by authoritarian rather than democratic regimes (Zürcher et al. 2013). Recently, scholars have begun to ask if international peacebuilders may be one of the causes of such authoritarian outcomes in post-conflict settings (Gowan 2015; von Billerbeck 2016), but there has been no systematic study of this relationship. In this project, we therefore seek to examine the relationship between peacebuilding and authoritarianism and the ways in which peacebuilding shapes authoritarianism at the local level. The project is particularly timely, as the credibility of the UN's largest mission, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is being put at risk by the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Joseph Kabila. At the same time, key UN member states like the UK are boosting their commitment to UN peacebuilding. These twin developments necessitate urgent analysis of UN actions to ensure that they do not inadvertently contribute to repression, patronage, and other authoritarian practices and instead help to lay the foundation for peaceful democratic societies.

We divide our research into two strands:
1) The first asks how international peacebuilding missions contribute to authoritarian behaviour at the national level. We assess if international peacebuilders act as 'enablers' of authoritarian rule by contributing to incumbent capacity and expanding the opportunity structures for authoritarianism. To do so, we carry out process tracing of the impact of peacebuilding activities on authoritarian behaviour in four cases that demonstrate a diverse range of post-conflict political trajectories: DRC, Haiti, Cambodia, and Liberia.

2) The second examines how the views of UN peacebuilding staff contribute to this enabling. Do they consciously seek to minimize it at all times or do they knowingly prioritise other goals when faced with competing objectives? By conducting interviews with UN staff at headquarters and in missions, we aim to understand how the peacebuilders rank various values and goals and how those decisions shape peacebuilding activities aimed at national political elites.

Both strands address distinct aspects of the relationship between peacebuilding and authoritarianism, while also complementing one another. Understanding how peacebuilders conceive of and approach their relationship with domestic elites (Strand 2) will help shed light on why and how international peacebuilders sometimes act as enablers of authoritarian rule (Strand 1).

The project builds on the expertise of the applicants, who all have research experience in post-conflict settings (Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, and the DRC). Project PI Tansey is an expert on authoritarian politics and has led a large European Research Council project on the international politics of authoritarian rule. Co-PI von Billerbeck is an expert on UN peacebuilding and is leading an ESRC Future Research Leader project on norms and values in international organizations.

The project has been discussed with officials in the UN and the UK government, who confirmed that the project meets a current need by addressing a knowledge gap. Practitioner input influenced our research design and will be a key ongoing feature of the project. Impact will be secured through a series of workshops, training, and engagements with UN and member state practitioners in three key areas:1) design of mission mandates, 2) mission implementation, and 3) mission evaluation and best practice development. Targeted impact strategies ensure value for money by translating project findings into policy reality

Our project will have significant impact for two non-academic groups: UN staff and national policymakers involved in international peacebuilding. Within these two groups, we have identified three sets of actors according their different roles and we have devised tailored impact strategies.

BENEFICIARIES
1) UN Staff: This project is directly relevant to UN staff at multiple levels. It is these individuals whose knowledge, background, and approach shape missions on the ground. With a better understanding of how their actions may work directly against their stated goals, they will be able to take steps to protect against authoritarian backsliding and consolidation.

2) National Policymakers: This research also benefits policymakers of key peacebuilding states, like the UK, who work with and fund UN efforts. Governments that delegate peacebuilding to international organizations like the UN have a keen interest in ensuring that their activities do not unwittingly enable authoritarianism.

Furthermore, we have identified three particular categories of these stakeholders according to their different roles:
1) Mandate Designers - especially UN Security Council permanent members' representatives at the UN (including the UK) and UN staff within the UN Secretariat (especially in the Departments of Political Affairs and Peacekeeping Operations).

2) Mission Implementers - especially UN Secretariat staff in New York and in-theatre mission staff (particularly Heads of Mission and staff within mission Political Affairs Divisions).

3) Best Practice and Training Units - especially staff at the UK's Stabilisation Unit, the UN's Best Practices Unit in New York, and the Swedish Folke Bernadotte Academy's (FBA) training units for peacebuilders.

IMPACT ACTIVITIES
To ensure that the key stakeholders benefit directly from our project, we propose 3 main sets of activities.

1) Iterative Project Design: We have involved key practitioners in our project design from the outset and will continue do so in order to maximize impact. We have created an Advisory Board (see Pathways to Impact) to provide input and policy direction at all stages of the project. Through this iterative design, our project ensures that non-academic beneficiaries have a voice in how this research can be made most useful to them.

2) Outreach and Knowledge Exchange: During the project we plan to hold a series of workshops to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration, particularly with mandate designers and practitioners involved in mission implementation. First, we will hold a symposium in Year 2 with mandate implementation staff from the UN, including mission heads if possible, as well as staff from the FCO, the FBA, relevant policy NGOs, and leading academics. This event benefits academic and non-academic stakeholders by sharing our intermediary findings on enabling authoritarianism.

In Year 3, we will organize two roundtables with UN staff and national policymakers in New York and London to share results and to collaboratively generate implementable policy recommendations. These recommendations will relate specifically to the processes of mandate design as well as the practical challenges of mandate implementation in the field.

3) Peacebuilder Training: The project will ensure impact to the third set of actors - best practice and training units - through engagement with two important training organizations within the UK and Sweden. Building on our existing relationships, we will work closely with staff in the FCO Diplomatic Academy and the FBA to incorporate our findings into their existing training modules for peacebuilding practitioners. Co-PI von Billerbeck is already involved in developing training modules on the UN and its peace operations for the FCO's Diplomatic Academy, targeted at staff who will be deployed to the UK's permanent mission to the UN in New York, and our findings will be incorporated into content updates to the curriculum.