The United Nations, international peacekeeping and the question of 'impartiality': revisiting the Congo operation of 1960

In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Band 38, Heft 3, S. 359-382

Abstract

This paper analyses peacekeeping impartiality, i.e. the extent to which peacekeepers
act in the interests of international peace and security, rather than
the interests of specific states or other external actors. It reevaluates the
question of impartiality through an analysis of the Congo operation of July–September
1960. This case study was selected because it was by far the most
important instance of peacekeeping during the Cold War. Based upon primary
source materials from US, British, and UN archives, as well as memoirs
and secondary sources, it finds that the Congo peacekeeping force intervened
to a considerable extent in the internal politics of the Congo; in doing so,
the peacekeepers collaborated with US policymakers and, to some extent,
advanced their strategic objectives. A comparison between the Congo operation
and recent cases of peacekeeping in post-Cold War Africa indicates
that impartiality is likely to remain an elusive goal.