IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/joupea/v58y2021i3p368-383.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Peacekeeping and development in fragile states: Micro-level evidence from Liberia

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Mvukiyehe

    (Research Department, 195835World Bank)

  • Cyrus Samii

    (Politics Department, 5894New York University)

Abstract

Peacekeeping operations are integral to multilateral strategies to help establish stable, self-sustaining peace and development in countries coming out of civil war. While we know, from macro-level empirical studies, that these operations contribute to the durability of peace, the evidence on their effectiveness at the micro level remains scant. Using surveys and administrative data from postwar Liberia, we test the hypothesis that peacekeeping deployments build peace ‘from the bottom up’ through contributions to local security and local economic and social vitality. The hypothesis reflects official thinking about how peacekeeping works via ‘peacebuilding’. We create a quasi-experiment by applying coarsened exact matching to administrative data used in mission planning, identifying sets of communities that were similarly likely to receive bases. We do not find effects on local security measured in terms of physical victimization, fear of victimization, or migration patterns. We find only modest effects on socio-economic vitality. NGOs tend to work in areas where deployments are not present, contrary to the hypothesis. Thus, we are less inclined to believe that peacekeepers build peace from the bottom up, leaving macro-level mechanisms such as signaling and deterrence at the level of leaders as worthy of more attention. In terms of policy, peacekeeping missions should re-evaluate their methods for providing local security.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Mvukiyehe & Cyrus Samii, 2021. "Peacekeeping and development in fragile states: Micro-level evidence from Liberia," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(3), pages 368-383, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:joupea:v:58:y:2021:i:3:p:368-383
    DOI: 10.1177/0022343320912813
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022343320912813
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022343320912813?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gilligan, Michael J. & Sergenti, Ernest J., 2008. "Do UN Interventions Cause Peace? Using Matching to Improve Causal Inference," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 3(2), pages 89-122, July.
    2. Anderson, Michael L, 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt15n8j26f, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    3. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2006. "What Mean Impacts Miss: Distributional Effects of Welfare Reform Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(4), pages 988-1012, September.
    4. van Buuren, Stef & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, Karin, 2011. "mice: Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 45(i03).
    5. Ruggeri, Andrea & Dorussen, Han & Gizelis, Theodora-Ismene, 2017. "Winning the Peace Locally: UN Peacekeeping and Local Conflict," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(1), pages 163-185, January.
    6. Anderson, Michael L., 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1481-1495.
    7. Sambanis, Nicholas, 2007. "Short-term and long-term effects of United Nations peace operations," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4207, The World Bank.
    8. Raul Caruso & Prabin Khadka & Ilaria Petrarca & Roberto Ricciuti, 2017. "The economic impact of peacekeeping. Evidence from South Sudan," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 250-270, March.
    9. Costalli, Stefano, 2014. "Does Peacekeeping Work? A Disaggregated Analysis of Deployment and Violence Reduction in the Bosnian War," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 357-380, April.
    10. Macartan Humphreys & Jeremy M. Weinstein, 2007. "Demobilization and Reintegration," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 51(4), pages 531-567, August.
    11. Doyle, Michael W. & Sambanis, Nicholas, 2000. "International Peacebuilding: A Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(4), pages 779-801, December.
    12. Vincenzo Bove & Leandro Elia, 2018. "Economic Development in Peacekeeping Host Countries," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 64(4), pages 712-728.
    13. James D. Fearon & Macartan Humphreys & Jeremy M. Weinstein, 2009. "Can Development Aid Contribute to Social Cohesion after Civil War? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Post-conflict Liberia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 287-291, May.
    14. Fjelde, Hanne & Hultman, Lisa & Nilsson, Desirée, 2019. "Protection Through Presence: UN Peacekeeping and the Costs of Targeting Civilians," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(1), pages 103-131, January.
    15. Paul Collier, 0. "Post-conflict Recovery: How Should Strategies Be Distinctive?," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(suppl_1), pages -131.
    16. King, Gary & Honaker, James & Joseph, Anne & Scheve, Kenneth, 2001. "Analyzing Incomplete Political Science Data: An Alternative Algorithm for Multiple Imputation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(1), pages 49-69, March.
    17. Alan Fowler, 1991. "The Role of NGOs in Changing State‐Society Relations: Perspectives from Eastern and Southern Africa," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 9(1), pages 53-84, March.
    18. Jessica Di Salvatore, 2019. "Peacekeepers against Criminal Violence—Unintended Effects of Peacekeeping Operations?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(4), pages 840-858, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bove, Vincenzo & Di Salvatore, Jessica & Elia, Leandro & Nisticò, Roberto, 2024. "Mothers at peace: International peacebuilding and post-conflict fertility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Unfried, Kerstin & Ibañez Diaz, Marcela & Restrepo-Plazaz, Lina Maria, 2022. "Discrimination in post-conflict settings: Experimental evidence from Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Deniz Cil & Hanne Fjelde & Lisa Hultman & Desirée Nilsson, 2020. "Mapping blue helmets: Introducing the Geocoded Peacekeeping Operations (Geo-PKO) dataset," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(2), pages 360-370, March.
    3. Bove, Vincenzo & Di Salvatore, Jessica & Elia, Leandro & Nisticò, Roberto, 2024. "Mothers at peace: International peacebuilding and post-conflict fertility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Maekawa, Wakako, 2024. "United Nations peacekeeping operations and multilateral foreign aid: Credibility of good governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. Emla Fitzsimons & Marcos Vera-Hernandez, 2013. "Food for Thought? Breastfeeding and Child Development," IFS Working Papers W13/31, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    6. Ariel BenYishay & Lisa Mueller & Katherine Nolan & Philip Roessler, 2022. "Testing multi‐stakeholder dialogue for better local governance in Niger: An experiment. Can we talk our way out of development problems?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(4), July.
    7. Wukki Kim & Todd Sandler & Hirofumi Shimizu, 2020. "A Multi‐Transition Approach to Evaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(4), pages 543-567, November.
    8. Berman, Eli & Callen, Michael & Gibson, Clark C. & Long, James D. & Rezaee, Arman, 2019. "Election fairness and government legitimacy in Afghanistan," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 292-317.
    9. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    10. Eric Mvukiyehe, 2018. "Promoting Political Participation in War-torn Countries," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(8), pages 1686-1726, September.
    11. Beber, Bernd, 2021. "Do peacekeepers contain conflict? Insights from spatially disaggregated data," Ruhr Economic Papers 931, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    12. Guy Grossman & Devorah Manekin & Dan Miodownik, 2013. "The Political Legacies of Combat: Attitudes towards war and peace amongst Israeli ex-combatants," HiCN Working Papers 161, Households in Conflict Network.
    13. Rothstein, Jesse & Von Wachter, Till, 2016. "Social Experiments in the Labor Market," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt7957p9g6, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    14. Cameron, Lisa A. & Olivia, Susan & Shah, Manisha, 2015. "Initial Conditions Matter: Social Capital and Participatory Development," IZA Discussion Papers 9563, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Vaughn, Cody N., 2023. "Welfare reform and childhood health status and utilization," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    16. Mvukiyehe, Eric & Samii, Cyrus, 2017. "Promoting Democracy in Fragile States: Field Experimental Evidence from Liberia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 254-267.
    17. Christopher Blattman, 2009. "Civil War: A Review of Fifty Years of Research," Working Papers id:2231, eSocialSciences.
    18. Nicholas Haas & Prabin B. Khadka, 2020. "If They Endorse It, I Can't Trust It: How Outgroup Leader Endorsements Undercut Public Support for Civil War Peace Settlements," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 982-1000, October.
    19. Pierskalla, Jan H. & Sacks, Audrey, 2017. "Unpacking the Effect of Decentralized Governance on Routine Violence: Lessons from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 213-228.
    20. Wakako Maekawa & Barış Arı & Theodora-Ismene Gizelis, 2019. "UN involvement and civil war peace agreement implementation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 397-416, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:joupea:v:58:y:2021:i:3:p:368-383. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.prio.no/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.