Re-Importing the ‘Robust Turn’ in UN Peacekeeping

Internal Public Security Missions of Brazil’s Military

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12536680
AutoresChristoph Harig (0000-0003-0520-7900, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, autor correspondente)
Ano2018
Volume26
Fascículo2
Páginas137-164
Data de publicação2018-12-03
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Peacekeeping (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1353-3312 • E-ISSN: 1743-906X
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13533312.2018.1554442
OpenAlexW2902892700
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas30
Referências citadas39

Brazil has been the largest troop contributor and provided all force commanders to the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, 2004–2017). As the military embraced a leading role in UN peacekeeping’s turn towards peace-enforcement, Brazil’s governments have increasingly relied on soldiers in public security – occasionally even portraying these operations as a sort of ‘peacekeeping at home’. Yet how has Brazil’s participation in MINUSTAH affected internal military operations? I argue that narratives of the military’s effectiveness in Haiti have been used to legitimise the growing scope of internal public security missions. Drawing on data from a questionnaire-based survey, interviews and focus groups with soldiers and officers, this paper argues that the experience in Haiti has fuelled troops’ demands for rules of engagement that resemble those in UN peacekeeping. Given the armed forces’ increasing bargaining power in Brazil’s politics, the military leadership has been able to successfully lobby in favour of changing parts of the legal framework for internal operations. Lessons from the ‘robust turn’ have been used to promote more coercive internal missions of Brazil’s armed forces. Yet it is impossible to fully reconcile the content of the military’s demands with the rule of law in a democracy

Internal conflict · Internal security · Law enforcement · Peacekeeping · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · International Development and Aid · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Public Administration