Cooperation, information, and keeping the peace

Abstract

Cultivating cooperation with local populations is necessary for peacekeeping operations to effectively prevent and reduce violence. To accomplish their missions in complex foreign theaters of operation, peacekeepers must solicit information about local political actors, social networks, and violence. Under what conditions do local populations cooperate with United Nations peacekeepers? How does exposure to peacekeeping security activities, relief activities, or abuse – three of the primary ways that local communities experience peacekeepers – affect the likelihood that individuals cooperate with peacekeepers by providing information to them? Using an original survey of a random sample of residents of metropolitan Port-au-Prince, Haiti, we show that people who are exposed to security and relief activities by the United Nations peacekeeping operation, MINUSTAH, have more positive opinions of how effective they are, and are more willing to cooperate with peacekeepers by providing them with information. On the other hand, exposure to abuse dramatically undermines civilian opinions of how effective, benevolent, and abusive peacekeepers are but has a smaller effect on cooperation. These findings present an opportunity and challenge for peacekeepers: if public opinion and cooperation are responsive to peacekeeper policy, then peacekeepers must deliver services and prevent abuse in order to solicit the cooperation that is necessary for mission success.

‘They Were Going to the Beach, Acting like Tourists, Drinking, Chasing Girls’: A Mixed-Methods Study on Community Perceptions of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers in Haiti

“…Other academics have made similar but less SEA-focused arguments. Gordon and Young (2017) have demonstrated that local civilian cooperation is dependent on the degree to which local community members perceived peacekeepers positively, and Talentino (2007) found that resentment towards peacekeepers was likely to lead to obstructionism as a result of broken promises and mistrust. It is reasonable to assume, based on the narratives presented here, that SEA would have led to negative perceptions of and resentment towards MINUSTAH.…”

Gender-Stratified Analysis of Haitian Perceptions Related to Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Perpetrated by UN Peacekeepers during MINUSTAH

“…Secondly, convenience sampling limits the generalizability of the results to the Haitian population. Due to prolonged political instability and earthquake-related losses such as mass death, displacement, and weak infrastructure, the 2003 Haitian census is not usable [80]. While other scholars have collected primary data using population-based samples in Haiti, they are restricted to particular areas such as metropolitan Port-au-Prince [80].…”

The Distribution and Consequences of Sexual Misconduct Perpetrated by Peacekeepers in Haiti: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…Mechanism and Hypothesis for Objective 2: Exposure to Sexual Misconduct and Future Engagement with the UN Contextual information from civilians is often essential for the success of PO, and yet it can be challenging for peacekeepers to gather this information when they are not cohesively integrated into the host community. The cooperation and engagement of local civilians has been shown to depend on the degree to which local communities positively perceive peacekeepers (Gordon and Young 2017). Local civilians may not have access to reliable information about peacekeepers (Talentino 2007) and instead may rely on personal, vicarious, and community-level experiences regarding peacekeepers' day-to-day activities.…”

“…The results must be interpreted with several limitations in mind. Due to prolonged political instability and earthquake-related losses such as mass death, displacement, and weak infrastructure, the 2003 Haitian census is not usable (Gordon and Young 2017). Consequently, a sampling frame of the Haitian population living in proximity to peacekeeping bases is di cult to acquire.…”