Reinforcing Failure : Understanding the UN's RelentlessPursuit of an Elusive Liberal Peace

自冷战结束以来，联合国的和平行动一直建立在这样一种假设之上，即自由民主国家不太可能相互开战或陷入内战。多年来，联合国在自由主义和平建设方面的记录显然是好坏参半的，主要学者和政策制定者都得出结论，这项事业存在严重缺陷。然而，尽管有越来越多的证据表明其局限性，但除了联合国青睐的自由和平建设方式之外，还没有出现其他严肃的选择。为什么联合国一直奉行同样失败的维和政策，即使成功的记录如此糟糕？我的研究项目试图通过研究决定联合国和平行动授权中包括哪些类型任务的复杂审议来解决这个难题。通过对联合国在海地和刚果民主共和国的维和行动进行详细的案例研究分析，该项目试图检验各种不同的理论，这些理论认为，是什么因素导致了自由建设和平的任务一再被纳入维和任务，而不考虑实地情况。在此过程中，它试图通过评估成员国利益的相对重要性和联合国的组织文化来推进联合国作为一个国际组织的研究，以解释为什么尽管在该领域屡遭挫折，但深深植根于自由和平话语的任务仍然存在。

Since the end of the Cold War, UN peace operations havebeen built on the assumption thatliberal democracies are less likely to go to war with eachother or descend into civil war. The UN's track record withliberal peacebuilding over the years has been decidedlymixed, leading scholars and policy makers alike toconclude that the enterprise is deeply flawed. Yet despitemounting evidence of its limits, serious alternatives to theUN's favored, liberal peace-building approach are yet toemerge.Why is it that the UN constantly pursues the same failedpeacekeeping policies even when the record of success isso poor? My research project tries to address this puzzle byexamining the complex deliberations that determine whattypes of tasks are included in the mandates of UN peaceoperations. Drawing on a detailed case study analysis of the UN'speace operations in Haiti and the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo, this project seeks to test rival theories about thefactors responsible for the repeated inclusion of liberalpeacebuilding tasks in their mandates, regardless ofcircumstances on the ground. In doing so, it seeks toadvance research onthe UN as an international organization by assessing therelative importance of member stateinterests and the UN's organizational culture in explainingwhy tasks firmly rooted in the discourse of liberal peacehave endured, despite repeated setbacks in the field.