Description
The field of peacekeeping research (and practice) has witnessed many ‘turns’ in the last decades. In the early 2000s, the critical of liberal peacekeeping led to a ‘local turn’ in which scholars have been focusing on the subnational and local levels, studying local-international interactions, observing the everyday dimension of peacekeeping missions and approaching peacekeeping through a micro and bottom-up perspective. In parallel, we also observe a ‘macro turn’ in peacekeeping research in which scholars analyze the effect of macro-level factors such as world politics, international norms and geopolitics on UN peace operations.
These two trends in peacekeeping research have mainly evolved in parallel without engaging with each other. In this panel, we propose to start a conversation on macro-micro dynamics in order to move research on peacekeeping further. Papers in this panel address this question by looking at the relationship between micro-level processes and macro dynamics in peacekeeping legitimation and in the effect of world politics on UN peacekeeping. Other papers adopt a meso approach. By doing so, it contributes to peacekeeping research by fostering dialogue between different theoretical and methodological perspectives.
