Borrowing the concept of ‘fit’ from organizational theory, the authors use it to develop a conceptual framework to study coherence in peacekeeping operations. “Fit is the degree of match between what is required by the mandate, on the one hand, and an institutional set-up and the implemented practices, on the other,” they state in ‘Understanding Coherence in UN Peacekeeping: A Conceptual Framework’, published in the journal International Peacekeeping.
RIETJENS and RUFFA identify three relevant dimensions of fit to study coherence: strategic and organizational, cultural and human and operational fit. Their empirical material focuses on the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and in particular on the interplay between the intelligence components and the rest of the mission.
Drawing upon a large empirical dataset containing over 120 semi-structured interviews, field observations and participation in pre-deployment exercises and evaluation sessions, RIETJENS and RUFFA’s empirical analysis suggests that low level of fit across several dimensions leads to inertial and widespread frictions in the practice of peacekeeping and could potentially undermine peacekeeping effectiveness. “Building on existing scholarship on micro-level approaches to peacekeeping, we hope to further the debate on organizational dynamics within peace operations.”
The analysis revealed many manifestations of misfit on each of the three key areas. “If we consider the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations as the level of goal realization (i.e. fulfilling the UN mandate) our analysis suggests a positive and rather strong relation between the coherence and effectiveness.” When coherence or a lack thereof was observed in each of the three key areas, this directly seemed to impact the level of goal realization.
Increasing coherence between the actors that are involved in peacekeeping operations however does not require having all actors to interact in a unified way, RIETJENS and RUFFA write. There are just too many different interests, mandates and modi operandi to make full integration possible or even desirable. “But we find that unpacking coherence is a first step in shedding light to further theorizing on this issue.”
Further research could explore the relation between different key areas of fit and also on how they influence each other, i.e. a lack of organizational fit is one of the reasons for a lack of operational fit. And the fit-model should be tested to additional cases to see if it holds. Further research should also explore more systematically how organizational variables may hinder peacekeeping success.
Turning to MINUSMA in particular, the authors state, it becomes clear that the mission would benefit from higher levels of coherence than is presently the case. The fit model is a useful tool for identifying key areas in which further work is needed. This implies that actors should try to better integrate their approaches and activities while maintaining their individual identities as well as their right to take independent decisions.
Looking at the three different key areas (strategic and organizational fit, cultural and human fit and operational fit), the authors state, there are several recommendations that deserve immediate follow-up.
First, with respect to the area of strategic and organizational fit it is important to increase role clarity between the All Sources Information Fusion Unit (ASIFU) and the Joint Mission Analysis Center and to further integrate or at least more clearly define command and control relationships of the Force Headquarters cell (U2) and ASIFU.
In addition, it would be important to improve linkages (e.g. liaison officers) between military intelligence capacities and the main force. Relatedly it would be key to give existing coordination platforms decision powers and inserting them in the chain of command and control. The lack thereof could explain the failures of the Joint Coordination Board.
In relation to the cultural and human fit, more emphasis on the development of cross-cultural competences seems essential to operate more effectively. Three main components have been identified as necessary to acquire cross-cultural competence and therefore to effectively work in a foreign culture (Abbe & Halpin).
These are cultural knowledge (i.e. an awareness of one’s own culture and an understanding of culture and cultural differences through schemata or frameworks), affect (i.e. attitudes toward other cultures such as openness and empathy and the motivation to learn about and engage with them) and skills ‘to regulate one’s own reactions in a cross-cultural setting, interpersonal skills, and the flexibility to assume the perspective of someone from a different culture’. Emphasizing these competencies e.g. during pre-deployment training and exercises seems very beneficial.
Finally, within the area of operational fit, it seems crucial to better marry the Western and African capabilities. This includes aligning procedures and standards and requiring systems to uphold information security. In this respect, establishing a joint database, including underlying technical and security infrastructure is crucial. More in general, the UN and the international community at large should think at how to better integrate of high-tech capabilities within a generally low-tech environment, without recreating divisive practices of exclusions based on technological divides.
One of the core issues here seems the conflation of capabilities with trust: in MINUSMA when capabilities were absent trust was lost. One way to address this issue is to acknowledge the complementarity of skills and context awareness but also systematically engage in joint training to bridge the Western-African divide.
“Overall, the main take away of this paper is that functional differentiation has important implications for misfit across all levels of the organizations.” While greater diversity in UN peacekeeping has undeniable advantages in terms of legitimacy and representativeness, the recent return of European troops to UN peacekeeping in Africa begs the question of how to strike the balance. “We find that addressing misfit more openly could be useful to make peacekeeping more effective.”
Sebastiaan Rietjens & Chiara Ruffa (2019) 'Understanding Coherence in UN Peacekeeping: A Conceptual Framework', International Peacekeeping, DOI: 10.1080/13533312.2019.1596742
No comments:
Post a Comment