DE FREDSBEVARANDE OPERATIONERNAS KRITISKA VÄN En kvantitativ undersökning av Kinas deltagande i FN:s fredsbevarande operationer mellan 1991 och 2017

Sammanfattning

The United Nations’ peacekeeping missions have, since the end of the cold war, become increasingly characterised by liberal goals through the phenomenon of liberal peacebuilding. At the same time, China has become an active participant in peacekeeping while simultaneously criticising those liberal ambitions. Many studies have tried to explain this contradiction. However, little is yet known to what extent they actually participate in liberal peacebuilding. With the purpose of studying the possible conflict between liberal ambitions in UN peacekeeping and Chinese willingness to participate, this study aspires to fill that gap by answering whether they have contributed to a lesser extent in peacekeeping operations with liberal aims. The hypothesis was informed by liberal political theory in international relations, using current knowledge on the Chinese approach to peacekeeping. Descriptive and regression analysis was done on a material consisting of 163 observations, based on datasets IPI and PEMA, of all operations active in Africa between 1991 and 2017. The results show that, between 2000 and 2017, China participated to a greater, not lesser, extent with more personnel to operations with stronger liberal ambitions. Furthermore, the total size of a peacekeeping operation is strongly correlated with higher liberal ambitions, making it difficult to determine the independent effect these variables have on Chinese participation. Between the years of 1991 and 1999, Chinese participation was not affected by either variable. In conclusion, the relation between Chinese participation in peacekeeping operations and UN liberal ambitions is more complex than is sometimes assumed.