India’s UN Peacekeeping Operations Involvement in Africa

Yeshi Choedon

International Studies, 2014, vol. 51, issue 1-4, 16-34

Abstract: India accords high significance to its participation in the UN peacekeeping in Africa. Apart from examining India’s contribution in quantitative terms and the varieties of personnel involved, it highlights the Indian peacekeepers’ unique characteristics in terms of professionalism, reliability, humane approach and other distinctive features. It also discusses blemishes they brought on the country because of allegations of corruption and sexual abuse, and how India tackles those issues. The major focus is on the driving factors, which motivated India to participate in the risky operations in Africa that have evolved in keeping with the geopolitical shifts at the global level. Initially, the rationale for its participation was to express solidarity with African countries, but now it is more to ensure energy security and to maximize the opportunity for trade and investment. The aspiration for recognition as a great power remains a constant factor of its involvement in UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, and India has been leveraging this contribution for claiming a permanent seat at the UN Security Council since the early 1990s. It discusses the apprehension of a shift in India’s participation due to frustration at the lack of progress in UN reform. However, the indicators direct that the attempt is more to reconfigure its participation and to highlight the need to go back to the traditional root of the peacekeeping operations, keeping in view the diversions that took place in the post-Cold War.

Keywords: Internal conflicts; multidimensional tasks; gender mainstreaming; reliable peacekeepers; professionalism; solidarity; use of force; national interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020881717719184 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:intstu:v:51:y:2014:i:1-4:p:16-34

DOI: 10.1177/0020881717719184

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Studies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().