Peacekeeping: Let the Conscripts do the Job

1 According to Philip Wilkinson, PSO' was a term first used by the military to cover both peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations, but it is now used more widely to embrace in addition those other peace-related operations which include conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacebuilding and humanitarian assistance'. See Philip Wilkinson, `Sharpening the Weapons of Peace: Peace Support Operations and Complex Emergencies', in Tom Woodhouse & Oliver Ramsbotham, eds, Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution (London: Frank Cass, 2000), pp. 63-79, on p. 71. A detailed description of PSOs is provided in John Mackinlay, ed., A Guide to Peace Support Operations (Providence, RI: Brown University, 1996).

2 Brett Litz, a psychologist at the Behavioural Science Division of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston, MA, maintained that `on the one hand, peacekeeping, in principle, requires observation and monitoring of politically guaranteed peace accords. Peacekeepers in this rather ideal context are like an impartial and neutral police force, a role that can be at odds with the combat soldier's ethic. On the other hand, as repeatedly demonstrated in practice, peacekeepers are exposed to ongoing, unpredictable and uncontrollable life-threat akin to a special type of warzone. Peacekeeping under these circumstances requires both the offensive and defensive capability of trained combat soldiers. However peacekeeping under tenuous and dangerous conditions also requires impartiality, neutrality, and a great deal of patience and restraint, qualities that are not typically endorsed in the doctrine of military affairs. Clearly then a key psychological demand of peacekeeping is role conflict.' See Brett Litz, `The Psychological Demands of Peacekeeping for Military Personnel', Clinical Quarterly, Winter 1996, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 2-8, on p. 7.

3 Michael Williams, `Civil-Military Relations and Peacekeeping', Adelphi Paper no. 321 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 71-72. Williams stated that `appropriate military education and training is essential if peace support is to be effective.... Greater emphasis should be placed on the “softer” aspects of military science - managing resources, civilian control, human rights - while maintaining adequate technical warfighting skill' (p. 72).

4 Christopher Dandeker & James Gow, `Military Culture and Strategic Peacekeeping', in Erwin Schmidl, ed., Peace Operations Between War and Peace (London, Frank Cass, 2000), pp. 58-79, on p. 64.

5 Fabrizio Battistelli, Teresa Ammendola & Maria Grazia Galantino, `The Fuzzy Environment and Postmodern Soldiers: The Motivations of the Italian Contingent in Bosnia', in Schmidl (note 4 above), pp. 138-160, on p. 138.

6 John Mackinlay, `Improving Multifunctional Forces', Survival, vol. 36, no. 3, Autumn 1994, pp. 149-173, on pp. 157-158.

7 John Whiteclay Chambers II, `Conscription', in Trevor N. Dupuy, ed., International Military and Defense Encyclopedia (Washington, DC: Brassey's, 1993), p. 640.

8 According to Brett Litz, `historically, there has not been much apparent need for considering the psychological demands of peacekeeping'. See Litz (note 2 above), p. 3.

9 Michael Rose, Fighting for Peace: Lessons from Bosnia (London: Warner, 1998), p. 271.

10 Walter Clarke & Jeffrey Herbst, `Somalia and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention', Foreign Affairs, vol. 75, no. 2, March-April 1996, pp. 70-85, on p. 74.

11 Michael Rose, `The Bosnia Experience', in Ramesh Thakur, ed., Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain (London: Macmillan, 1998), pp. 135-146, on p. 139.

12 Dandeker & Gow (note 4 above, p. 64) emphasized that `the deployment of Canadian paratroopers in Somalia in 1994 shows how serious the consequences can be - for Somali society, the reputation of the Canadian military and Canada's civil-military relations - when a unit equipped with an exaggerated warfighting ethos is inserted into an operation for which such an orientation was inappropriate'.

13 Tamara Duffey, `Cultural Issues in Contemporary Peacekeeping', in Woodhouse & Ramsbotham (note 1 above), pp. 142-168, on p. 147.

14 The deployment of MNF II began in September 1982 and ended in February 1984. In August 1983, Rome had deployed 2,000 troops in Beirut, of whom 1,594 were conscripts.

15 Marianne Heiberg & Johan Jørgen Holst, `Peacekeeping in Lebanon: Comparing UNIFIL and the MNF', Survival, vol. 28, no. 5, September/October 1986, pp. 399-421, on p. 411.

16 Duffey (note 13 above), p. 150.

17 Richard Nelson, `Multinational Peacekeeping in the Middle East and the United Nations Model', International Affairs, vol. 61, no. 1, Winter 1984-85, pp. 67-89, on p. 76.

18 Operation Pelican lasted from 17 September 1991 to 3 December 1993.

19 Fabrizio Battistelli, Soldati: Sociologia dei militari italiani nell'era del peace-keeping [Soldiers: Sociology of the Italian Military in the Peacekeeping Era] (Milan: FrancoAngeli, 1996), pp. 200-201.

20 Laura Miller, `Do Soldiers Hate Peacekeeping? The Case of Preventive Diplomacy Operations in Macedonia', Armed Forces & Society, vol. 23, no. 3, Spring 1997, pp. 415-449, on p. 420.

21 Brett Litz, Lynda King, Daniel King, Susan Orsillo & Matthew Friedman, `Warriors as Peacekeepers: Features of the Somalia Experience and PTSD', Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 65, no. 6, 1997, pp. 1001-1010, on p. 1001.

22 Bruce Wainrod, `The US Role in Peacekeeping-Related Activities', World Affairs, vol. 155, no. 4, Spring 1993, pp. 148-155, on p. 151.

23 Author's interview with General Bruno Loi, Ibis Commander from May to September 1993, Rome, 10 July 1998.

24 For a detailed analysis of the Italian participation in the intervention in Somalia, see Paolo Tripodi, The Colonial Legacy in Somalia (London: Macmillan, 1999), ch. 5, `Mogadishu Versus the World', pp. 138-165.

25 The peace process in Mozambique was examined in Roberto Morozzo della Rocca, Mozambico: Dalla guerra alla pace [Mozambique: From War to Peace] (Milan: Edizioni San Paolo, 1994); and in Stephen Chan & Moises Vanancio, War and Peace in Mozambique (London: Macmillan, 1998).

26 ONUMOZ had a total authorized strength of about 7,000 troops. Operation Albatross lasted from 5 January 1993 to 30 April 1994.

27 By 2008, the Italian armed forces should number 190,000, while currently they total 280,000. It is still uncertain, however, whether it will be possible to achieve this target.

28 Heiberg & Holst (note 15 above), on p. 415.

29 Fabrizio Battistelli, `Peacekeeping and the Postmodern Soldier', Armed Forces & Society, vol. 23, no. 3, Spring 1997, pp. 467-484, on p. 482.

30 Karen Dunivin, `Military Culture: Change and Continuity', Armed Forces & Society, vol. 20, no. 4, Summer 1994, pp. 531-547, on p. 533.

31 Michael Harbottle, `New Roles for the Military', Conflict Studies, no. 285, November 1995, pp. 9-10.

32 Alberto Antoniotto, Antropologia e Peacekeeping [Anthropology and Peacekeeping] (Milan: FrancoAngeli, 1999), p. 8.

33 Battistelli (note 29 above), p. 481.

34 Pierangelo Isernia & Gianpaolo Lanzieri, `I soldati italiani amano il peacekeeping? Un modello delle determinanti della soddisfazione per le missioni di pace' [Do Italian Soldiers Love Peacekeeping? A Model of Satisfaction Determining Factors for Peace Missions], in Teresa Ammendola, ed., Missione in Bosnia [Mission in Bosnia] (Milan: FrancoAngeli, 1999), pp. 191-238, on p. 230.

35 Harbottle (note 31 above), p. 9.

36 Ibid.

37 Stephen Ryan, `United Nations Peacekeeping: A Matter of Principles?', in Woodhouse & Ramsbotham (note 1 above), pp. 27-47, on p. 32.