NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner

This project started from the observation that peacekeepers live in the same place as local residents, but do not live in the same world. The peacekeeping world is air-conditioned, clean, and well-guarded; it consists of decent housing, generous pay, access to vehicles, domestic help, and, usually, a robust (if limited) social life that revolves around patronising expensive restaurants, hotels, bars, and clubs. These establishments and activities - that which is needed to allow peacekeeping and peacekeepers to function - comprise the peacekeeping economy. The primary objective and achievement of this project is to develop the peacekeeping economy concept. The peacekeeping economy approach foregrounds empirical research that relies on sources missing from most work on peacekeeping and peacebuilding, such as sex workers; domestic workers; security guards; drivers; service workers; others in the informal sector; subcontracted workers; and UN national staff -- in addition to international personnel and local elites. It is primarily about people: a human-focused approach to political economy that, while retaining a concern for the activities and impact of international structures and organisations, centres on individuals and the relationships between them. We argue that this approach allows us to observe certain aspects of peacekeeping missions that we otherwise would not see: the practice and politics of everyday life of those involved in a peacekeeping mission, and those living with and alongside these missions. Using the peacekeeping economy approach to identify and examine certain everyday practices of the mission and its peacekeepers in turn helps to illuminate the way that peacekeeping is currently done, and some of the ramifications that this has for peacekeepers and locals alike. Project participants have conducted extensive fieldwork in the peacekeeping economies in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan, and one of the most important findings is that the peacekeeping economy 'system' is set up to reward those that already have the most - including those that benefited the most from the preceding conflict. More than that, the benefits of the peacekeeping economy are distributed in ways that are extremely hierarchical and non-transparent. This has clear implications for the UN peacekeeping mission in how it is perceived on the ground. The findings from the project can also contribute to current UN peacekeeping reform processes, particularly in terms of how missions are structured and mission funds are used vis-a-vis local populations and enterprises.

Peacekeeping operations comprise a massive deployment of human and financial resources into poor, post-conflict areas. The impact on local economies is huge, but poorly understood and rarely studied systematically. While peacekeepers live in the same plac e as local residents, they do not live in the same world. The 'peacekeeping world' comes with a 'peacekeeping economy', the latter referring to the skilled or semi-skilled jobs available to local staff in UN offices or NGOs; informal work (housekeeping, e tc) for international staff; service jobs in the establishments that cater to internationals; and participation in the sex industry. The peacekeeping economy is highly gendered in its division of labor, but otherwise little is known about its impact on lo cal livelihoods, labor markets, and gender relations. The proposed project will critically and empirically examine peacekeeping economies in Liberia, DRC, and Sudan through a gendered political economy lens. In each case, the peacekeeping economies will be mapped, and this will enable research on their impact on local livelihoods. The mapping and livelihood studies will then form the basis for findings related to gender, sustainability, and the interaction between peacekeeping economies and 'official' pe acekeeping and development activities. The project will be qualitative, comparative and feature extensive fieldwork. It will result in a co-edited volume, a PhD thesis, a series of articles in peer-reviewed journals, a large final conference and policy report, and a series of op-eds and think-pieces in popular media and web forums. It aims to generate knowledge that will help policymakers leverage the benefits of peacekeeping economies for poverty alleviation, while mitigating their potentially negative socio-economic and gendered effects. The project will also contribute to the academic and policy literature relating to development aid, poverty, peacekeeping, and gender in conflict and post-conflict environments.