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Studies in Global Justice and Human Rights

The Morality of Peacekeeping

By Daniel H. Levine

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£29.99

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About this book

What is the peacekeeper's role in the 21st Century?

  • Cases discussed include Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti and Liberia
  • Focuses on protection and reconciliation rather than victory
  • Excerpts from interviews with peacekeepers in the field, predominantly from Africa and India

Peacekeeping, peace enforcement and ‘stability operations’ ask soldiers to use violence to create peace, defeat armed threats while having no enemies and uphold human rights without taking sides. The challenges that face peacekeepers cannot be easily reduced to traditional just war principles.

Daniel H. Levine uses insights from care ethics as well as extensive interviews with peacekeepers to develop the idea that peacekeepers have no enemies and should be seeking to bring even abusive actors into a Kantian ‘kingdom of ends’. He argues that, while it contains elements of all three, peacekeeping is morally distinct from war, policing and governance. And he asserts that the traditional ‘holy trinity’ of peacekeeping principles – consent, impartiality, and minimum use of force – still provide the best guide to its morality.

Reviews

This book reads, in part, as a ‘conversation with self’, deeply reflective, clear and helpful as Daniel Levine grapples with and explains the moral nature of peacekeeping. Hugely illustrative and rich.
Far and away the finest and clearest analysis of the ethical dimensions of this important peacebuilding tool written to date. Levine dives into long-standing issues of consent, impartiality, use of force, and civilian protection and comes up with novel insights and arguments of enormous appeal, logic, and practicality, while ensuring throughout a good theoretical grounding. I believe this book will prove a landmark in this field, an essential go-to for scholars and practitioners alike.
Table of contents

Preface

Part I: General Considerations
1. Introduction
2. A Normative Framework for Peacekeeping

Part II: The Holy Trinity
3. Consent
4. Impartiality
5. Minimum Use of Force (A): Resort to Force
6. Minimum Use of Force (B): Peacekeeper Violence

Part III: Protecting Civilians
7. Protection and Vulnerability
8. Protection of Civilians from Non-Enemies: A Case Study of MONUC Support to Kimia II in the DRC
9. Protecting With Civilians
10. Conclusion

Part IV: Appendices
A. List of Acronyms
B. Interviews

Bibliography
Index

About the author

Daniel H. Levine

Daniel H Levine is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, and a Research Fellow with the Center for International Security Studies at Maryland.

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