UN Interventions and Patterns in Civilian Police Reconstruction

• In Event: Peacekeeping

Abstract

What norms do United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations (PKOs) promote when designing civilian police reconstruction efforts? This project builds on past scholarship linking international policing to colonialism and counterinsurgency in the context of empire and the democracy building efforts after the Cold War. Using archival data on UN PKOs in the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, and Rwanda, the paper analyzes patterns of UN civilian policing policies over time. The analysis focuses on standard operating procedures, degrees of militarization, and archival discourse around the conditions and possibilities for democratic civilian policing reform. Results reveal that the UN drives a socialization process in which the UN and its international organization partners support centralized liberal policing reforms to maintain international stability and the status quo for powerful donors. This support remains despite a lack of evidence that these reforms contribute to civilian safety. Given extensive work on the impact of police on social and political participation and belonging, scholars, practitioners, and activists can benefit by understanding how major international organizations like the UN influence policing norms in cases of humanitarian disaster with the ultimate aim of improving safety for all civilians, including the most marginalized.

Author

• Maya Van Nuys, University of Chicago