The United Nations, Intra-State Peacekeeping and Normative Change
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mup Esef Aksu cover 4/7/2003 5:24 pm Page 1 New Approaches to Conflict Analysis New Approaches to Conflict Analysis and normative change The United Nations intra-sate peacekeeping The United Nations, intra-state peacekeeping and normative change Es¸ref Aksu The United Nations, This study explores the normative dimension of the UN's evolving role in peace and security and, ultimately, in governance. What is problematised here is both the UN's changing raison d'être and the wider normative context within which the organisation is located. The study looks at the intra-state peacekeeping UN through the window of one of its most contentious, yet least understood, practices: active involvement in intra-state conflicts as epitomised by UN peacekeeping. and normative change Drawing on the conceptual tools provided by the 'historical structural' approach, this study seeks to understand whether, how and why the international community continuously reinterprets or redefines the UN's relationship with intra-state conflicts. The study concentrates on intra-state 'peacekeeping environments', and examines what changes, if any, have occurred to the normative basis of UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts from the early 1960s to the early 1990s. One original aspect of the study is its analytical framework, where the conceptualisation of 'normative basis' revolves around objectives, functions and authority, and is closely connected with the institutionalised values in the UN Charter, among them, state sovereignty, human rights and socio-economic development. Es¸ref Aksu teaches International Politics at the University of Limerick, Ireland Es ¸ef Aksu ISBN 0-7190-6241-1 Es¸ ref Aksu 9 780719 067488 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page i THE UNITED NATIONS, INTRA-STATE PEACEKEEPING AND NORMATIVE CHANGE 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page ii New Approaches to Conflict Analysis Series editor: Peter Lawler, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Department of Government, University of Manchester Until recently, the study of conflict and conflict resolution remained comparatively immune to broad developments in social and political theory. When the changing nature and locus of large-scale conflict in the post-Cold War era is also taken into account, the case for a reconsideration of the fundamentals of conflict analysis and conflict resolution becomes all the more stark. New Approaches to Conflict Analysis promotes the development of new theoretical insights and their application to concrete cases of large-scale conflict, broadly defined. The series intends not to ignore established approaches to conflict analysis and conflict resolution, but to contribute to the reconstruction of the field through a dialogue between orthodoxy and its contemporary critics. Equally, the series reflects the contemporary porosity of intellectual borderlines rather than simply perpetuating rigid boundaries around the study of conflict and peace. New Approaches to Conflict Analysis seeks to uphold the norma- tive commitment of the field’s founders yet also recognises that the moral impulse to research is properly part of its subject matter. To these ends, the series is comprised of the highest quality work of scholars drawn from throughout the international academic community, and from a wide range of disciplines within the social sciences. PUBLISHED M. Anne Brown Human rights and the borders of suffering: the promotion of human rights in international politics Karin Fierke Changing games, changing strategies: critical investigations in security Tami Amanda Jacoby and Brent Sasley (eds) Redefining security in the Middle East Deiniol Jones Cosmopolitan mediation? Conflict resolution and the Oslo Accords Jan Koehler and Christoph Zürcher (eds) Potentials of disorder Helena Lindholm Schulz Reconstruction of Palestinian nationalism: between revolution and statehood David Bruce MacDonald Balkan holocausts? Serbian and Croatian victim-centred propaganda and the war in Yugoslavia Jennifer Milliken The social construction of the Korean War Ami Pedahzur The Israeli response to Jewish extremism and violence: defending democracy Tara Väyrynen Culture and international conflict resolution: a critical analysis of the work of John Burton 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page iii The United Nations, intra-state peacekeeping and normative change ES¸REF AKSU Manchester University Press MANCHESTER AND NEW YORK distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page iv Copyright © Es¸ref Aksu 2003 The right of Es¸ref Aksu to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed exclusively in Canada by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 0 7190 6748 0 hardback First published 2003 111009080706050403 10987654321 Typeset in Photina by Action Publishing Technology Ltd, Gloucester Printed in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page v CONTENTS Acknowledgements — vii List of abbreviations — ix 1 The UN and intra-state conflicts: problematising the normative connection 1 Addressing normativity 3 Norms, interests, time and governance 6 2 Rethinking the UN through intra-state peacekeeping: the analytical framework 14 Exploring normative change with ‘historical structures’ in mind 15 Drawing the boundaries of the normative domain 17 Problematising UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts 21 Normative significance of ‘peacekeeping environments’ 27 3 The UN’s role in historical context: impact of structural tensions and thresholds 43 Towards double ‘peaks’: superpower rivalry and decolonisation/ non-alignment 44 The aftermath of double peaks 53 When North equals West: ‘unipolar’ configuration and rising hegemony 61 Concluding observations 65 4 UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts: evolution of the normative basis 76 Emerging normative basis on the eve of double ‘peaks’ 76 Consensus on objectives: sovereignty writ large 80 Dominant expectation: minimal UN authority 83 Re-ordering objectives: from vertical to horizontal relationship 85 Re-assigning authority: from timid criticism to undoing ‘domestic wrongs’ 91 Concluding observations 93 5 The UN in the Congo conflict: ONUC 100 Historical background 100 UN involvement without a ‘prelude’ 101 v 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page vi Contents Where ‘external’ meets ‘internal’: attempts at secession 105 Towards UN intervention in ‘domestic’ affairs 109 Concluding observations 121 6 The UN in the Cyprus conflict: UNFICYP 130 Historical background 130 Prelude to active UN involvement 131 Resolving two divergent diagnoses 134 Authority: expansion within severe constraints 142 Concluding observations 148 7 The UN in the Angola conflict: UNAVEM 155 Historical background 155 Towards active UN involvement 157 Gradual transformation of the UN’s role 159 The Lusaka process: transformation completed 166 Concluding observations 172 8 The UN in the Cambodia conflict: UNTAC 179 Historical background 179 Peacekeeping in Cambodia: the evolution of an idea 181 Lead-up to UN ‘protectorate’: from the Australian Plan to the Paris Agreement 185 The mandate: sovereignty and human rights hand in hand 191 UNTAC deployed 197 Concluding observations 201 9 Reflections on international normative change 210 Normative change in a historical structural context 211 ‘Institutional’ implications of ‘normative’ change? 214 Select bibliography — 220 Index — 231 vi 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book heavily draws on my PhD project completed at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Joe Camilleri. Without his excellent supervision, intellectual support and generous friend- ship this project could not have materialised. I also would like to thank all colleagues and friends who, in different ways and capacities, knowingly and unknowingly, have continuously stimulated my thoughts about the issues that this book tries to wrestle with: Hugh Dyer, Richard Falk, John Groom, Yekti Maunati, Wendy Mee, Nicole Oke, Taha Parla, Hugh Smith and Ünsal Sönmezler. vii 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page viii 2523Prelims 20/6/03 9:29 am Page ix ABBREVIATIONS AAPSO Afro-Asia Peoples’ Solidarity Organisation ABAKO Alliance des Bakongo (Alliance of the Bakongo People) ANC Armee Nationale Congolaise (Congolese National Army) APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ARRK Agricultural Relief and Rehabilitation in Kampuchea ASC American Security Council ASEAN Association of South-East Asian Nations BLDP Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party CCC Cooperation Committee for Cambodia CCPM Joint Political-Military Commission CENTO Central Treaty Organization CGDK Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea CIEC Conference on International Economic Cooperation COMECON Council for Mutual Economic Assistance CONAKAT Confederation des Associations Tribales du Katanga (Confederation of Tribal Associations of Katanga) CSCE Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe DOMREP Mission of the Representative of the Secretary-General