1st Edition

African Peacekeeping Training Centres Socialisation as a Tool for Peace?

By Anne Flaspöler Copyright 2019
    188 Pages
    by Routledge

    188 Pages
    by Routledge

    Peacekeeping training centres play a crucial role in preparing peacekeepers for their deployment. However, despite their popularity within the international community as a tool for achieving international security, development, and state-building objectives, they have not received a great deal of analysis or academic attention. This book provides an in-depth analysis of peacekeeping training in Africa, tracing how centres have adapted to the operational and normative changes of peace operations over time and raising questions about the expectations attached to these training efforts and their impact.



    The book examines training content and methods in detail, exploring the potential of peacekeeping training centres as sites for socialisation and diffusing international norms in an effort to change and shape peacekeepers' behaviour. The analysis is based on two contrasting case studies, selected to show the spectrum of training centres operating in Africa, namely the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana, and the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) in Durban, South Africa.



    At a time when impact is being determined by the number of course attendees, this book provides an important critical assessment of training efforts and what they are supposed to achieve. It will be of interest to scholars and practitioners within the fields of international security, peacekeeping, and African development.

    1. Introduction  2. Expanded Peacekeeping Training Needs – Demands Posed by the Normative and Tactical Dimensions of Today’s Missions  3. Peacekeeping Training Centres in Africa and Their Training Efforts: The Cases of KAIPTC and ACCORD  4. African Peacekeeping Training Centres as Bridges Between Doctrine and Action 5. Peacekeeping Training as a Form of Socialisation 6. Training Needs, Training Realities and Expectations of Training Impact  7. Conclusion

    Biography

    Anne Flaspöler is a Senior Researcher at the EDDA Research Center and a Course Coordinator at the United Nations University Gender Equality and Studies Programme (UNU-GEST), University of Iceland.

    "Peacekeeping, peacekeeping training and liberal democratic state-building are part of contemporary international relations. Anne Flaspöler masterfully unpicks elements of this system by investigating peacekeeping training centres in South Africa and Ghana as units of norm transfer and socialization of people, concepts, approaches and strategies. Flaspöler’s conceptually rich study in deconstructing the unintended effects of peacekeeping training in Africa identifies tensions between ‘top-down’ assumptions and approaches to peacekeeping and the ‘bottom up’ realities of some of today’s conflicts and conflict management initiatives - as well as the way elements of these issues synergise in training packages, trainers and participants. In doing so this book questions conceptual foundations of peacekeeping training and peacebuilding interventions suggesting a re-think of current approaches and expectations - and should be required reading for all interested and involved in peacekeeping and the training of peacekeepers."Marco Jowell, Research Associate, Centre for African Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK

    "UN and African Union peacekeeping operations today are excruciatingly difficult - and will get more so. ‘Improved training’ has been offered up as the chief response to significant critiques of peacekeeping practices. Anne Flaspoeler shines a valuable bright light here on the actual conundrums facing peacekeeping training reformers."Cynthia Enloe, Professor, Clark University, USA, author of Globalization and Militarism

    "This book sheds a bright light on the important but under-studied area of peacekeeping training. Peace operations have unique requirements and this book helps elucidate the necessity for proper training and education. As Africa and the rest of the world comes to realize the special requirements for peacekeeping training, this book will