Unleashing and Taming Violent Peacekeepers: Civilian Harm Mitigation in Peace Operations
Abstract
This article examines how violence is reconfigured in contemporary peace operations through the rise of civilian harm mitigation as a distinct mode of governance. Drawing on the concept of global security assemblages, it traces how civilian harm mitigation emerges from shifting alignments and frictions among mission leaderships, troop-contributing countries, NGOs, legal experts, donors, and local communities. It shows how civilian harm mitigation recasts the boundaries of acceptable military conduct in peace operations, revealing violence as a malleable construct shaped by competing rationalities, interests, and power relations, and by evolving commitments to counterinsurgency and international law.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Global Peace and Security Dynamics
Peacebuilding and International Security
War
Ethics
and Justification
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 355–378
- Publication date
- 15 January 2026
- Language
- EN