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Abstract

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has hosted a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission for the last 23 years. Despite having the largest budget of any peacekeeping mission in history, violence continues to plague the African nation. Since the end of the Second Congo War, the deadliest war since World War Two, the DRC has been impacted by numerous armed groups that threaten national security and frequently target civilians. This research aims to assess how effective the peacekeeping mission has been at reducing armed conflict and protecting civilians. By utilising secondary data and a wealth of literature, this research constructs a detailed context of the evolving violence in the DRC and the impact of the peacekeeping mission’s operations. The peacekeeping mission has been ineffective in reducing levels of armed conflict and protecting civilians. Several factors have been identified to explain this conclusion. Part of this failure has been due to internal shortcomings of the mission, such as poor strategies and a lack of discipline. However, external factors, such as the complex conflict environment, UN bureaucracy and a lack of responsibility assumed by the DRC government, have also made significant contributions.

Course: International Relations - MA - P2929FTD

Date Deposited: 2024-02-02

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14350.html