China’s increased presence within the UN and its peacekeeping missions shows its will to be a responsible actor, whilst shifting away from the China threat theory that has fed Western thought....Show moreChina’s increased presence within the UN and its peacekeeping missions shows its will to be a responsible actor, whilst shifting away from the China threat theory that has fed Western thought. However, little research has been done on how power is perceived within this field. The state claims to be non-interventionist but still sent an increasing amount of combat troops to Africa. It is unknown if the end goal is to provide aid or if there is more to it. This study intends to research what China’s model for peace and development within the mission of South Sudan entails, both theoretically and practically, and how it might use an underlying strategy of smart power. Herein, Nye’s concept of smart power is a way for a nation to maximise its strength through a combination of hard and soft power. In order to measure smart power, the components of military, economic, and affective and normative soft power were used. Military and economic power exist on as spectrum ranging from hard to soft power, whilst soft power is also devised into tangible and intangible assets. To research power, the thesis has used a variation of academic sources, databases, newspapers, and official governmental papers. These were chosen as to examine official reporting and factual outcomes. The results showed that the Chinese model for development contains soft power elements, whilst its activities in South Sudan employ both soft and hard power. The results therefore suggest that China might pursue a smart power strategy to safeguard its own interests. The realist concept of power still holds up today and might prove valuable to research more areas of power in UN missions on the African continent.Show less
This thesis explores the UN’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, specifically focusing on its implementation in South Sudan from 2005 to 2018. Promulgated in 2005, the R2P doctrine aimed to...Show moreThis thesis explores the UN’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, specifically focusing on its implementation in South Sudan from 2005 to 2018. Promulgated in 2005, the R2P doctrine aimed to prevent the occurrence of mass atrocity crimes, these being genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. Most of the public debate about and literature on R2P has focused on the use of coercive measures by the international community in general and on potential military interventions for humanitarian purposes in particular. This thesis instead takes a more holistic approach to analysing R2P, discussing all three pillars of the doctrine. These are the state’s responsibility to protect (Pillar I); international assistance and capacity building (Pillar II); and a timely and decisive response by the international community in a situation where mass atrocities are imminent or are already being perpetrated (Pillar III). After exploring the literature on R2P and explaining the methodology that will be used, the thesis then explores the implementation of the doctrine before and during the South Sudanese Civil War. The thesis finds that the South Sudanese government were ineffective in adopting measures to protect its population from mass atrocities. Indeed, some policies actually increased the risk of such crimes while important government members and political elites were actively involved in the crimes that were perpetrated. It also finds that the international community’s assistance under Pillar II was generally well-intentioned but often misguided, while the timely and decisive response under Pillar III was hamstrung by an unwillingness to utilise or even consider all of the tools available.Show less
This thesis examines the foundations for success in peacekeeping operations. To this end, the absence or presence of two preconditions, commitment, and credibility, which are essential for the...Show moreThis thesis examines the foundations for success in peacekeeping operations. To this end, the absence or presence of two preconditions, commitment, and credibility, which are essential for the fulfillment of the assigned mandate are explored on a cross-case- study comparison between UNMISS and MONUSCO. Indicator questions yield information on the extent to which each operation encompasses the investigated preconditions. The findings of the analysis indicate that UNMISS has low commitment and low credibility, and MONUSCO has high commitment and rather high credibility. Based on the absence of the preconditions in UNMISS, this thesis argues that the operation lacks a strong foundation for the effective fulfillment of its mandate, and thus has negative prospects for success, while MONSUCO, due to the presence of credibility and commitment has rather positive prospects for a successful implementation of its mandate.Show less
