Synergy Effects Between Minustah and Public Security in Brazil

Abstract

Harig, Christoph. Synergy effects between MINUSTAH and public security in Brazil.RASILIANA-Journal for Brazilian Studies. Vol. 3, n.2 (March, 2015). ISSN 2245-4373. 142 Synergy effects between MINUSTAH and public security in Brazil 1Christoph Harig 2 Brazil has constantly provided Force Commanders and is the largest troop contributor to the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). A fair number of representatives, including a Minister of Defence (Zaverucha, 2008, p. 22) as well as the Army commander (Gazeta do Povo, 2011), expressed their desire to use MINUSTAH for improving internal military operations. This has arguably led to a "Port---au---Prince---Rio---connection" (Hirst & Mattar Nasser, 2014, p. 4): MINUSTAH is understood as origin of Pacification approaches in Rio de Janeiro, in which the military occasionally acts jointly with state police forces. Hence, some suggest that "Armed Forces´ actions in the hills of Rio cannot be comprehended without the prior experience in Haiti" (Marcos Cintra cited in Mateos, 2011). By contrast, a minority view contends that MINUSTAH probably has fewer consequences for public security than the other way round: "Rather than importing new doctrines from overseas (...) Brazilian troops export their conventional policing roles" (Sotomayor, 2014, p. 89). This article will show that both sides of the argument should be seen as complementary, not mutually excluding perspectives.Probably more important than origins are the results from both types of deployment. This article therefore addresses the close similarity of MINUSTAH and Pacification at operational level. I will argue that these simultaneous deployments create reciprocal learning processes among troops. With the establishment of dedicated 1 Parts of this article are based on revised sections of the conference paper "The linkage of international and internal security -Brazilian contributions to United Nations Peacekeeping operations and their effect on the domestic security sector", presented at the ECPR General Conference, Glasgow, 06.09.2014 143training centres and a considerable amount of practical experience in missions that differ significantly from traditional combat---orientated warfare, soldiers are becoming increasingly familiar with police tasks and frequent interactions with civilians. Based on the considerable extension of the legal framework for allowing domestic military actions that has begun well before the start of MINUSTAH, I will argue that this "police---ization of the military, (...) a growing tendency to look to the armed forces to perform tasks that are, essentially, law enforcement in nature" (Dunlap, 1999, p. 222) probably has more repercussions for internal "Guaranteeing Law and Order" (GLO) missions than for further UN Peace Operations.The article is structured as follows: firstly, I show in greater detail how Pacification builds on prior military operations as well as attempts of community policing in favelas. Then I proceed to an assessment of the militar...

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