Description
A new notable challenge in the practice of international peacekeeping is the rise of violent civilian protests against peacekeeping missions. Since 2010, up to three major United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions have been confronted with the menace of hostile, violent and deadly protests from the host communities. While scholars are increasingly paying attention to this phenomenon, little effort has been made to research why it happens in some contexts but not others. This paper examines the reasons why violent protests against peacekeeping missions occur in certain contexts but not in others. It draws on the sociological literature on emotions to develop a tripartite framework for understanding violent protests during peacekeeping interventions. The framework essentially asserts that whether or not to expect violent protests during a peacekeeping operation is a function of three interrelated factors – (i) whether or not the peacekeeping mission fails to meet the core local expectations, (ii) whether or not this failure to meet the local expectations create a popular local discontent, and (iii) whether or not this discontent stirs up shared local anger. The article further draws on this framework and fieldwork data to analyse why violent anti-peacekeeping protests broke out against MONUSCO but not UNMIL.
