Blue Helmets as Legitimation Currency: Conditional Effect of Regime Change on UN Peacekeeping Contributions

United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations (PKOs) rely on voluntary personnel contributions from its member states. While existing research has extensively examined economic and geostrategic factors influencing personnel commitments, the role of domestic political dynamics, particularly regime change, remains underexplored. This thesis investigates how regime change affects a country’s decision to contribute personnel to PKOs. Building upon theories of international legitimacy and the joint product model of peacekeeping, this study argues that new regimes may increase personnel contributions as a strategy for legitimation. Moreover, this effect is expected to be significantly moderated by the regime’s domestic stability, while the regime transition type is not expected to condition the effect. By employing a dynamic Difference-in-Differences research design on panel data from 1996 to 2018, this quasi-experimental study ensures more robust causal inferences and allows for uncovering...Show moreUnited Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations (PKOs) rely on voluntary personnel contributions from its member states. While existing research has extensively examined economic and geostrategic factors influencing personnel commitments, the role of domestic political dynamics, particularly regime change, remains underexplored. This thesis investigates how regime change affects a country’s decision to contribute personnel to PKOs. Building upon theories of international legitimacy and the joint product model of peacekeeping, this study argues that new regimes may increase personnel contributions as a strategy for legitimation. Moreover, this effect is expected to be significantly moderated by the regime’s domestic stability, while the regime transition type is not expected to condition the effect. By employing a dynamic Difference-in-Differences research design on panel data from 1996 to 2018, this quasi-experimental study ensures more robust causal inferences and allows for uncovering temporal patterns of the effect in the years after regime change. The results suggest that following regime change, only states with high domestic stability substantially increase their UNPKO contributions. Additionally, this effect appears temporarily and with a delay of around seven years. Lastly, the study provides evidence that regime transition type moderates the effect of regime change on UNPKO contributions.Show less

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Blue Helmets as Legitimation Currency: Conditional Effect of Regime Change on UN Peacekeeping Contributions