Strengthening the political role of missions is key to improving UN peace operations

The single most important issue in order to improve UN peace operations is to strengthen missions’ ability to facilitate inclusive political processes in host societies.

This recommendation from senior analyst Louise Riis Andersen is included in an expert briefing book that has been prepared for the Independent High-Level Panel on UN Peace Operations. Along with a broad group of experts, think-tanks and civil society organisations, she was asked to submit a short note on her ideas as to what needs to change to improve UN peace operations. In her piece, Louise calls for revisions of both mandates and mindsets to reconnect peacekeeping and peacemaking. The overall aim of UN peace operations should be to assist parties in solving their fundamental differences in a non-violent manner.

The full text of her contribution is as follows:

"At the current juncture, the main challenge for UN peace operations is to reconnect mission activities to the crucial role of peacemaking. The complexity of contemporary violent conflicts necessitates a heightened focus on mediation and political facilitation aimed at helping the parties solve their fundamental differences in a non-violent manner. Providing such assistance in a timely and appropriate manner should be the primary objective of UN peace operations and serve as a guiding principle for the fulfilment of other more specific tasks in the mandate.

The importance of inclusive political processes has long been recognized as a fundamental prerequisite for lasting peace. In the context of asymmetrical conflicts in fragile states, this presents hard dilemmas of engaging constituencies that are represented by non-state armed actors. Especially when being tasked to assist in the extension of state authority, missions tend to work primarily with the host government. This reflects mandates as much as mindsets. Recent experience, however, show that this is not a viable approach in situations where fundamental political problems remain unsolved and/or the government lacks popular legitimacy.

The necessity—and difficulty—of getting the local politics right is directly associated with the complexity and danger of the environments. A key factor for future success will thus be to strengthen missions’ ability to adapt to the evolving political dynamics of the host society. At the every-day level this hinges on two fairly mundane requirements:

• Competent leadership in the field. In addition to his/her personal capacity to maneuver on the local political scene and in the diplomatic arena, the Special Representative of the Secretary General needs the backing of a solid team of politically astute military and civilian leaders.

• Country-specific knowledge. Missions need highly-qualified staff with an in-depth understanding of the host society, including the conflict history. Having access to local knowledge is vital to the quality of political analysis, including intelligence.

At a more strategic level, the need to strengthen the political role of missions calls for revisiting the relationship between the field and headquarters and consider ways of ensuring that the leadership of integrated missions have sufficient room for maneuvering in a timely and contextual manner."