Di Salvatore, J., & Ruggeri, A. (2020). The Withdrawal of UN Peace Operations and State Capacity: Descriptive Trends and Research Challenges. International Peacekeeping, 27(1), 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2019.1710368

While United Nations Peace Operations (UN POs) have moved away from traditional, security-focused mandates in the last generation of peace missions, most research on the effectiveness of peace missions continues to evaluate success based on security outcomes – such as levels of violence on the battlefield, civilian victimization, duration of ceasefires and violence containment. Few studies adopt broader and longer-term criteria for evaluation. Pioneers of this change, Doyle and Sambanis reframed the terms of peacekeeping from a focus on military strategies to a focus on peacebuilding. But while they showed that multidimensional missions can foster democratization and participatory peace in post-conflict societies, there is still debate among scholars and policy-makers about the use of peace missions as effective tools for state-building. Most of the discussion, especially among scholars, pays little attention to whether peace operations create stable polities and institutions that endure when the international presence eventually leaves. In other words, if peace missions are beneficial for state capacity, is their legacy strong enough to avoid the possible pitfalls associated with UN POs withdrawal?