Peacekeepers’ risk-exposure: Determinants of deliberate attacks and impacts for intervention efficacy

Project description

UN peacekeepers are widely viewed as being at growing risk of direct and deliberate violence in contexts where they operate. Such violence can carry grave costs for those immediately affected, but also appears to impede interveners’ operations in different ways. Concerns about the safety and security of peacekeepers have risen in recent years, but why peacekeepers become the targets of attack in the first place and with what impacts for mission efficacy remains poorly understood.

This project seeks to make two main contributions to a nascent area of research. First, it examines the impact of key features related to the local conflict context on prevalence and patterns of attacks on peacekeepers. Second, it explores the relationship between attacks and peacekeepers’ performance and ability to operate effectively. To do so, the project will collect original data for both qualitative and quantitative analysis, including by expanding on a recent data collection effort on the topic, the UCDP Peacemakers at Risk (PAR) dataset.