Checklist of Things to Think About If You Want to Be (or Are) a Peacekeeper

• What is the phase of the conflict?
  
  • What is needed in an emerging or escalating conflict is very different from what is needed in a conflict that is in a stalemate or one that is de-escalating or attempting post-violence peacebuilding, or as some call it now, "post-conflict reconstruction."
• Given this, what type of peacekeeping services are needed?
  
  • Early on, during conflict emergence or escalation, early warning, preventive diplomacy, mobilization slowing, and rumor control can often be helpful.
  • In stalemated situations, arms control and embargos, military force restructuring, and physical interposition of peacekeepers is usually necessary.
  • In post-conflict situations, interposition may still be necessary to enforce ceasefires, disarmament, and demobilization efforts.
• How are you going to find/train people with these skills?
  
  • Given the prevalence of peacekeeping operations, more and more people are being trained in such skills. The training is going on in U.S. and other military academies, and also in private centers such as the Canadian Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. But many are also put in peacekeeping operations without having such training. This tends to reduce their effectiveness and the potential effectiveness of the operation overall. Therefore, all peacekeepers should be provided with training to support that particular role. It should not be assumed that soldiers who know how to fight can easily adapt to peacekeeping operations without additional training.
  • At lower levels (such as community, organizational, or family), less training is needed, and many people play this role naturally, in their everyday interactions. However it can helps to have some mediation training to have a better idea of ways to intervene effectively. Peer mediation programs in elementary schools for example, are very effective in teaching student mediators how to intervene to stop playground fights. Similar programs at the high school level can prevent or stop serious disputes between gangs or cliques, or between students over "boy-girl" problems.
• What skills do the peacekeepers need to have to provide such services?
  
  • International peacekeepers need a wide variety of skills. They are frequently deployed in unstable situations in countries that have already been physically, politically, and socially devastated by war. So they must be able to take care of themselves and others in a dangerous environment, they must be able to work effectively with other aid providers from different countries and cultures, as well as being able to work with and build the trust of the disputing parties. They must be good at negotiation, good at improvising solutions when the original plan does not work, and skilled at analyzing a complex and rapidly changing situation and figuring out what is most helpful to do when, with whom, and how.
  • Other kinds of conflicts, such as organizational or interpersonal conflicts are usually simpler, and the kinds of skills needed to act as a peacekeeper are much simpler as well. Just having the wherewithal to get in the middle when two people are fighting, and say "hey, break this up!" and then try to get them to "talk out" their problem instead of fighting it out physically is not very difficult. It does take training, however, to recognize when doing so might be dangerous to either the peacekeeper or the parties (for example, when one or both sides have a weapon). Then, specialized policing skill is needed to know how to respond.
• Who else is involved in this conflict situation? When you are involved in a complex peacekeeping situation, it is important (but very challenging) to know who else is involved. You need to know:
  
  • Who are the disputants and what are their concerns, interests, and needs?
  • Are there different factions within larger groups that may actually be fighting amongst themselves?
  • Who else is providing aid? Are there humanitarian aid agencies? Who are they and what are they doing? Do they need protection?
  • Are there NGOs working on civil society building and/or democratization? Again, who are they, what are they doing, and are they secure in their work?
  • Are there other people there acting as witnesses, or self-appointed peacekeepers? How are you going to interact with them?
  • Are there other military units? What are they doing and how do they coordinate with you? What is their job and how is it different from yours?
  • Who is in charge?
  • Who else do you need to coordinate with? Work with?
• What is the nature and source of the threat you are protecting against?
  
  • Where are the threats to peace coming from? Who are the "spoilers" or "conflict profiteers" who would rather see violence continue than support the peace?
  • Is there some way to control these threats and people nonviolently?
  • If so, what is it?
  • If not, what is needed to secure the environment with the least possible force?
  • Is there some way to co-opt or transform the spoilers, so that they will stop disrupting the peace?
• What is the "end game" or "exit strategy"?
  
  • Peacekeepers cannot stay on forever, and when they do stay on for a protracted time (as they have, for example, in Cyprus), they may even contribute to a stalemate themselves, as people come to rely on the peacekeepers to keep the peace without doing anything to secure it themselves. To prevent this, any international peacekeeping effort must have a plan for continued peacemaking and peacebuilding, so eventually a stable peace situation can be achieved and external peacekeepers can leave.

For More Information

• What Do Peacekeepers Do?
• Resources for Peacekeepers
• Third Sider Roles
• Main Third Side Page