Conceptualization of UN Peacekeeping as an International Regime

Abstract

It is widely recognized that UN peacekeeping operations are an undertheorized topic. In this respect, scholars call to devote more attention to the incorporation of the study of UN peacekeeping operations into the framework of international relations theories. The article responds to these calls and suggests conceptualizing UN peacekeeping as an international regime. Some authors have already referred to UN peacekeeping as an international regime, however, the references have been rather fragmentary and there is no detailed identification of individual dimensions of this regime. The article uses the conception of Stephen Krasner who defines regimes as “principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actors’ expectations converge in a given area of international relations” to carefully identify and characterize the dimensions of the UN peacekeeping regime. The conceptualization of UN peacekeeping as an international regime is understood as a first and necessary step to opening new ground to the theoretical study of UN peacekeeping operations within the regime analysis.

Keywords

• UN peacekeeping regime
• UN peacekeeping operations
• peace operations
• international regimes
• security regimes