New Books in Military History

Marion Laurence, "Intrusive Impartiality: Learning, Contestation, and Practice Change in United Nations Peace Operations" (Oxford UP, 2024)


Listen Later

Impartiality is a guiding principle in United Nations peace operations that has helped legitimize multilateral intervention in dozens of armed conflicts around the world. In practice, it has long been associated with passive monitoring of cease-fires and peace agreements. In the twenty-first century, however, its meaning has been stretched to allow for a range of forceful, intrusive, and ideologically prescriptive practices, all in the name of building durable peace.

In Intrusive Impartiality: Learning, Contestation, and Practice Change in United Nations Peace Operations (Oxford University Press, 2024), Dr. Marion Laurence explains how these new ways of being "impartial" emerge, how they spread within and across missions, and how they become institutionalized across UN peace operations. Dr. Laurence argues that new peacekeeping practices are not only products of top-down pressures from member states or instructions from the UN Secretariat; they often emerge from tacit knowledge and unconscious decisions about how to follow orders or comply with social rules. By foregrounding the creativity and agency of the field staff who are responsible for translating mandates into action, Dr. Laurence shows that new definitions and practices of impartiality are products of contestation, learning, and the interplay between top-down pressures and bottom-up drivers of change in UN peace operations.

Drawing on original data gathered through extensive fieldwork, Dr. Laurence uses evidence from UN missions in Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and from UN headquarters in New York, to provide an innovative framework for studying authority and change in global governance. In doing so, Intrusive Impartiality sheds light on controversial changes in peacekeeping practice and yields valuable insights about the practical and ethical dilemmas that confront UN peacekeepers.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in Military HistoryBy Marshall Poe

  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1

4.1

154 ratings


More shows like New Books in Military History

View all
New Books in Philosophy by New Books Network

New Books in Philosophy

110 Listeners

Ancient Warfare Podcast by The History Network

Ancient Warfare Podcast

541 Listeners

New Books in History by Marshall Poe

New Books in History

212 Listeners

The WW2 Podcast by Angus Wallace

The WW2 Podcast

1,234 Listeners

New Books in Political Science by New Books Network

New Books in Political Science

64 Listeners

New Books in Anthropology by New Books Network

New Books in Anthropology

50 Listeners

New Books in Psychoanalysis by Marshall Poe

New Books in Psychoanalysis

189 Listeners

New Books in Psychology by Marshall Poe

New Books in Psychology

46 Listeners

New Books in African American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in African American Studies

165 Listeners

New Books in Native American Studies by Marshall Poe

New Books in Native American Studies

104 Listeners

New Books in Intellectual History by New Books Network

New Books in Intellectual History

61 Listeners

War on the Rocks by Ryan Evans

War on the Rocks

1,062 Listeners

Angry Planet by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields

Angry Planet

800 Listeners

Russian Roulette by Center for Strategic and International Studies

Russian Roulette

144 Listeners

Modern War Institute by Modern War Institute at West Point

Modern War Institute

776 Listeners

The Proceedings Podcast by U.S. Naval Institute

The Proceedings Podcast

211 Listeners

Cold War Conversations by Ian Sanders

Cold War Conversations

454 Listeners

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk by Goalhanger

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

1,365 Listeners

The Red Line by The Red Line

The Red Line

352 Listeners

History of the Second World War by Wesley Livesay

History of the Second World War

569 Listeners

Global Security Briefing by The Royal United Services Institute

Global Security Briefing

24 Listeners

School of War by Nebulous Media

School of War

442 Listeners

Battleground by Goalhanger

Battleground

328 Listeners

Geopolitics Decanted with Dmitri Alperovitch by Silverado Policy Accelerator

Geopolitics Decanted with Dmitri Alperovitch

145 Listeners