Multidimensional peacekeeping operations have been central to United
Nations efforts to end protracted internal conflicts and consolidate postwar
peace. Recent empirical studies have shown that these operations are associated
with prolonged peace after civil war. However, there have been few
quantitative efforts to evaluate peacebuilding components such as economic
rehabilitation, political development assistance, or human rights promotion
integrated within peacekeeping operations. We use original data from a survey
of the local population in Cote dIvoire and conflict event data to identify
micro-effects of the United Nations Operations in Cote dIvoire (UNOCI).
We find little to support the idea that UNOCIs deployments significantly
affected the security situation, which had already improved tremendously
*Department of Political Science, Columbia University. Email: enm2105@columbia.edu.
†Department of Political Science, Columbia University. Email: cds81@columbia.edu. For
their very useful input, we thank the staff of the Evaluation Division of the United Nations Office
for Internal Oversight Services, William Durch, Page Fortna, Francesco Mancini, and participants
at the 2008 FBA Peacekeeping Working Group at New York University and the Columbia University
IGERT-IDG workshop. We thank Ragnhild Nordas and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo
for sharing Cote d’Ivoire conflict events data.
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prior to UNOCIs arrival, and we find only a suggestive association between
feelings that insecurity would mar forthcoming elections and deployment
patterns. We do find that UNOCIs presence was associated with less severe
economic losses, and that penetration of electoral assistance activities was
associated with more confidence in forthcoming elections. Finally, we do
not find a clear association between deployments and the restoration of local
authorities. Taken as they are, the results suggest the need to emend current
theories of why peacekeeping works–perhaps de-emphasizing security
aspects, and placing more emphasis on the economic and political programmatic
aspects. While these results are preliminary, they suggest the potential
of micro-level studies of intermediate peacebuilding outcomes to improve
our understanding of how peacekeeping helps to build peace in war-torn societies