UN Peacekeeping and the Kindleberger Trap

For close to a decade, the UN has been under the double pressure of a high number of fatalities and pressure from member states to cut costs, particularly from the United States. Since 2013, the UN has not launched a new large peacekeeping mission, but large missions have been closed in Côte d’Ivoire, Darfur, Haiti, Liberia and Sierra Leone. On the African continent, four large missions remain – in the Central African Republic (CAR, MINUSCA), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, MONUSCO), Mali (MINUSMA) and South Sudan (UNMISS). These are also under pressure to cut costs.