Jean-Pierre Lacroix
Peacekeeping missions are often criticized, but rarely do critics imagine what the world would be like in their absence. In fact, multiple studies have shown that peacekeeping missions are one of the most effective tools the UN Security Council has at its disposal to prevent the expansion of war, stop atrocities, and make it more likely that peace agreements endure. In a comprehensive 2021 meta-analysis of peacekeeping operations presented in this magazine, the political scientists Barbara F. Walter, Lise Morjé Howard, and V. Page Fortna found that “peacekeeping not only works at stopping conflicts but works better than anything else experts know,” and “at a very low cost. . . . Conflict zones with peacekeeping missions produce less armed conflict and fewer deaths than zones without them.” The “relationship between peacekeeping and lower levels of violence is so consistent,” the authors concluded, that it ought to be considered “one of the most robust findings in international relations research.”
Today, however, the challenges facing UN Peacekeeping are greater than ever. Currently, the United Nations has 11 peacekeeping missions deployed around the globe—missions that are making extraordinary contributions to containing violence amid a surge in conflict worldwide. In the Golan Heights and Cyprus, peacekeepers are monitoring and preserving cease-fires. In the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan, they are protecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable civilians.
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