An Illusion of Empowerment? A Twenty-Year Review of United Nations Reports on Localization in Iraq

Dados Bibliográficos

ID15071802
AutoresJacqueline Parry (ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance, Acton, Australia), B Vogel (0000-0003-0965-920X, Humanitarianism, Peace and Conflict Studies, Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume30
Fascículo5
Páginas611-641
Data de publicação2023-10-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Peacekeeping (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1353-3312 • E-ISSN: 1743-906X
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13533312.2023.2265293
OpenAlexW4387527561
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas38

Localization has emerged as a dominant reform paradigm guiding humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding efforts on a global scale. It signals a commitment to shift power to local actors by recognizing, valuing, and strengthening their role in humanitarian or peacebuilding interventions. Despite this commitment, a noticeable reorientation of power to local actors has not occurred. This article contributes to the critical scholarship on localization by analysing 22 United Nations reports to examine their understanding of local actors and their envisaged contributions to missions in Iraq since 2003. The study engages with the UN's perspectives on localization across its key mission areas: development, stabilization, and humanitarianism. The findings show a lack of consistency in the Unites Nations’ perception of local actors and their contributions, with different sub-sectors presenting disparate views. The reports predominantly emphasize the instrumental use of local actors to achieve pre-defined mission objectives. Consequently, this article shows that the case of Iraq exposes a disconnect between the progressive and normative scholarly framing of localization as a political project aimed at restructuring power dynamics, and its on-ground implementation, which often simplifies localization as mere involvement of local actors

Empowerment · Normative · Peacebuilding · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Psychological intervention · Scholarship · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Psychology · Religion, Society, and Development