Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The European Union in the United Nations: Coordination on Peacekeeping Missions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The EU in UN Politics

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics ((PSEUP))

Abstract

Due to various institutional adaptations over time, the European Union (EU) has gradually obtained stronger means to coordinate the – often – divergent preferences of its member states in foreign policy and to act with one voice. But how can we assess this cohesiveness, ‘effectiveness’ or performance of the EU as a global actor, in empirical terms? This chapter focuses on one area in which EU outcome and consequently, performance, can be highly relevant: coordination of EU activities in the framework of UN peacekeeping activities and operations. More specifically, this chapter aims to offer a ‘snapshot’ of EU member state homogeneity and coordination in a number of peacekeeping resolutions as agreed upon at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and United Nations Security Council (UNSC). By exploring UNGA roll call votes of EU member states on peacekeeping missions and a study of the preference alignment of selected cases of peacekeeping resolutions voted on in the UNSC, this chapter shows that coordination between the different EU member states has strongly increased over time, partially in parallel with increased intra-EU coordination in foreign policy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    A framework for such an analysis is provided in the introduction to the current volume and in Blavoukos and Bourantonis (2011); also see Blavoukos and Bourantonis (2013) and Blavoukos (2015).

  2. 2.

    For example, see Jin and Hosli (2013).

  3. 3.

    As a consequence of the 23 June 2016 ‘Brexit’ decision, the EU will have only one permanent member of the UNSC.

  4. 4.

    For an overview, see, for example, Hosli and Dörfler (2015).

  5. 5.

    For various important trends in this regard, see Van de Graaf and Lesage (2015).

  6. 6.

    This section is largely based on the definitions and distinctions as provided in UNDPKO (2008).

  7. 7.

    For a full account of these types of peacekeeping operations, see UN (2012a).

  8. 8.

    For a thorough overview, see Holt and Taylor (2009).

  9. 9.

    See for these types of missions UNDP (2011).

  10. 10.

    See notably UN (2012b).

  11. 11.

    For a full account of these types of operations, see Castellan (2012).

  12. 12.

    See Lindenmayer (2012).

  13. 13.

    The full overview of these missions is available from the authors. To get the full list, please contact Joren Selleslaghs at j.m.h.m.r.selleslaghs@fgga.leidenuniv.nl.

  14. 14.

    Instead, the subcategory which the mandate refers to as being the ‘main priority’ of the mission (or the tasks mentioned first) will be chosen as the predominant category into which the mission is classified.

  15. 15.

    Operations currently in effect are MINURSO (Western Sahara), MINUSCA (Central African Republic), MINUSMA (Mali), MINUSTAH (Haiti), MONUSCO (Congo), UNAMID (Darfur), UNDOF (Syria), UNFICYP (Cyprus), UNIFIL (Lebanon), UNISFA (Sudan), UNMISS (South Sudan), UNOCI (Côte d’Ivoire), UNMIK (Kosovo), UNMIL (Liberia), UNMOGIP (India and Pakistan) and UNTSO (Israel). We will explore the extent of preference homogeneity among EU member states represented in the UNSC (as permanent or non-permanent members) for a selection of cases on which such priorities are by now clearly documented. Figures last updated on 13 April 2016.

  16. 16.

    See Sievers and Daws (2014: 502).

  17. 17.

    For example, see Department of Public Information (2008).

  18. 18.

    Badgaiyan (2015).

  19. 19.

    See United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/55/235 for full details on the scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of UN peacekeeping operations, as well as resolution A/RES/49/233 on the Administrative and Budgetary Aspects of Financing of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.

  20. 20.

    This committee is administrative and budgetary.

  21. 21.

    For full details, see UNGA (2015).

  22. 22.

    Solana (2001).

  23. 23.

    Figures based on Kmec (2015) and updated according to recent official UN data sources.

  24. 24.

    European Council (2001a).

  25. 25.

    European Council (2001b) and European Council (2001c).

  26. 26.

    Novosseloff (2004).

  27. 27.

    See Novosseloff (2004: 8).

  28. 28.

    See General Affairs and External Relations Conclusions, 2522nd Council Meeting, Brussels, 21 July 2003. establishment of desk-to-desk dialogue through the respective liaison offices in New York and Brussels.

  29. 29.

    Mogherini (2015).

  30. 30.

    General Secretariat of the European Council (2004).

  31. 31.

    See Pietz (2013).

  32. 32.

    Tardy (2009: 52).

  33. 33.

    Novosseloff (2012: 8).

  34. 34.

    Council of the European Union (2007).

  35. 35.

    Council of the European Union (2007: 2).

  36. 36.

    Council of the European Union (2011: 4).

  37. 37.

    Information based on UN (2016).

  38. 38.

    See, for example, the recently signed document European Union (2015).

  39. 39.

    See Bailey, Streshnev and Voeten (2015) and Voeten (2013).

  40. 40.

    See Hix et al. (2005). The AI has been used in various studies. For an overview of applications related to the UNGA, see Jin and Hosli (2013).

  41. 41.

    The keyword search of respective UN resolutions was done by Bob van de Mortel.

  42. 42.

    An exception to this, for example, is resolution 03/12/1978,R/33/13E, which was contested within the UNGA and had an EU AI of 0.83.

  43. 43.

    For more on this issue, see Jin and Hosli (2013).

  44. 44.

    Unfortunately, they do not allow us to assess the alignment of EU member state preferences before and after the Cold War, or in a comparison of resolutions voted on before the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon and thereafter, which could have revealed interesting information about how more institutionalised structures of coordination have led to an alignment of (revealed) preferences by EU member states in the UNSC. But they nonetheless provide some insights into EU member state preference homogeneity within the UNSC.

  45. 45.

    For a detailed description of how these preferences were extracted and the documents analysed originally, see Moody (2005).

  46. 46.

    The description closely follows the one provided by Moody (2005).

  47. 47.

    Security Council Resolution 1181 on the establishment of the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL), S/RES/1181 (14-07-1998).

  48. 48.

    Security Council Resolution 1272 on the establishment of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), S/RES/1272 (25-10-1999).

  49. 49.

    Security Council Resolution 1320 on deployment of troops and military observers within the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), S/RES/1320 (15-09-2000).

  50. 50.

    Security Council Resolution 1509 on establishment of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), S/RES/1509 (19-09-2003).

  51. 51.

    Security Council Resolution 1528 on establishment of the UN Operations in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), S/RES/1528 (27-02-2004).

  52. 52.

    Security Council Resolution 1542 on establishment of the UN Stabilization mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), S/RES/1542 (17-06-2004).

  53. 53.

    For a more detailed study of the cases, see the Reports of the Secretary-General.

References

  • Badgaiyan, S. (2015) ‘Role of UNO in Maintaining World Peace’, Law Mantra Journal 2(10): 5–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, M., Stezhnev, A. and Voeten, E. (2015), United Nations General Assembly Voting Data, available at: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl:1902.1/12379.

  • Blavoukos, S. (2015) ‘Capturing the EU International Performance: An Analytical Framework’, in S. Blavoukos, D. Bourantonis and C. Portela (eds.) The EU and the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (London: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 12–30.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Blavoukos, S. and Bourantonis, D. (eds.) (2011) The EU Presence in International Organisations (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Blavoukos, S. and Bourantonis, D. (2013) ‘Struggling with Performance: An Analytical Framework for the EU International Interactions’, Paper prepared for presentation at the EUSA Thirteenth Biennial Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, May 9–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castellan, P. (2012) Human Rights and Peacekeeping (Wiliamsburg: Peace Operations Training Institute).

    Google Scholar 

  • Council of the European Union. (2007) Joint Statement on UN-EU Cooperation in Crisis Management (Brussels: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • Council of the European Union. (2011) Actions to Enhance EU CSDP Support to UN Peacekeeping (Brussels: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Public Information. (2008) The United Nations Today (New York: United Nations Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Diana Panke. (2014) “The European Union in the United Nations. An Effective External Actor?” Journal of European Public Policy 21(7): 1050–1066.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Council. (2001a) Presidency Report on Strengthening CFSP (Nice: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • European Council. (2001b) Presidency Conclusions to the Goteborg European Council on European Security and Defence Policy (Goteborg: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • European Council. (2001c) Annex V of the Presidency Report on EU-UN Cooperation in Conflict Prevention and Conflict Management (Goteborg: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • European Union. (2015) Strengthening the UN-EU Strategic Partnership on Peacekeeping and Crisis Management: Priorities for 2015–2018 (Brussels: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • General Affairs and External Relations Conclusions. (2003) Notes of the 2522nd Council Meeting (Brussels: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • General Secretariat of the European Council. (2004) EU-UN Cooperation in Civilian Crisis Management Operations – Elements of Implementation of the EU-UN Joint Declaration (Brussels: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hix, S., Noury, A. and Roland, G. (2005) ‘Power to the Parties: Cohesion and Competition in the European Parliament, 1979–2001’, British Journal of Political Science 35(2): 209–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, V. and Taylor, G. (2009) Protecting Civilians in the Context of UN Peacekeeping Operations (New York: United Nations Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosli, M. O. and Dörfler, T. (2015) ‘The United Nations Security Council: The Challenge of Reform’, in D. Lesage and T. Van De Graaf (eds.) Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions (New York and Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan), pp. 135–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jin, Xi and Madeleine O. Hosli. (2013) Pre- and Post-Lisbon: European Union Voting in the United Nations General Assembly. West European Politics 36(6): 1274–1291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesage, D. and Van De Graaf, T. (eds.) (2015) Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions (New York and Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindenmayer, E. (2012) The Role of Peacekeeping Operations in Electoral Processes (New York: Columbia University).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kmec, V. (2015) The EU and Peacebuilding in CSDP Missions and Operations: Formulating Peacebuilding Policies (Cambridge: University of Cambridge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mogherini, F. (2015) Statement of the HR/VP Federica Mogherini on the Vote of the UN Resolution 2240 on EU Naval Operation in the Mediterranean (Brussels: European Union).

    Google Scholar 

  • Moody, R. (2005) Coalition-Formation Strategies in the United Nations Security Council (Master’s Thesis, Leiden University).

    Google Scholar 

  • Novosseloff, A. (2004) EU-UN Partnership in Crisis Management – Developments and Prospects (New York: International Peace Academy).

    Google Scholar 

  • Novosseloff, A. (2012) United Nations – European Union Cooperation in the Field of Peacekeeping: Challenges and Prospects (Brussels: Global Governance Institute).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pietz, T. (2013) The European Union and UN Peacekeeping: Half-time for the EU’s Action Plan (Berlin: Center for International Peace Operations).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sievers, L. and Daws, S. (2014) The Procedure of the UN Security Council (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Solana, J. (2001) Europe: Security in the Twenty-First Century (Stockholm: The Olof Palme Memorial Lecture).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tardy, T. (2009) ‘UN-EU Relations in Military Crisis Management: Institutionalization and Key Constraints’, Studia Diplomatica (The Brussels Journal of International Relations) LXII(3): 43–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. (2012a) UN DPKO/DFS Civil Affairs Handbook (New York: United Nations Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. (2012b) The United Nations SSR Perspective (New York: United Nations Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. (2016) Contributors to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations as of 29th February 2016 (New York: United Nations Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP. (2011) Practice Note: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants (New York: United Nations Development Programme).

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDPKO. (2008) United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines (New York: United Nations Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • UNGA. (2015) Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (New York: United Nations Official Records of the Sixty-ninth Session).

    Google Scholar 

  • Voeten, E. (2013) ‘Data and Analyses of Voting in the UN General Assembly’, in B. Reinalda (ed.) Routledge Handbook of International Organisation (New York, NY: Routledge), pp. 54–66.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Madeleine O. Hosli & Joren Selleslaghs

  2. Leiden University College (LUC), Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Bob van de Mortel

Authors
  1. Madeleine O. Hosli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joren Selleslaghs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bob van de Mortel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Madeleine O. Hosli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

    Spyros Blavoukos

  2. Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

    Dimitrios Bourantonis

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hosli, M.O., Selleslaghs, J., van de Mortel, B. (2017). The European Union in the United Nations: Coordination on Peacekeeping Missions. In: Blavoukos, S., Bourantonis, D. (eds) The EU in UN Politics. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95152-9_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation