Mandates for UN peacekeeping operations in Africa have become more robust since the delivery of the Brahimi Report in 2000. Contrary to before, soldiers are now unmistakably expected to use force to protect local civilians in a number of UN peacekeeping missions in Africa. While this expectation of force may be celebrated, the question rises whether peacekeeping soldiers can meet the expectation. Are they ready to kill and risk their lives to protect local civilians? This question is especially pertinent to Western armed forces, which have contributed little to post-millennium UN peace operations in Africa but are explicitly called upon by the UN administration to contribute to the robust peacekeeping missions. This article discusses the question of moral and psychological preparedness in light of the possible tension between the nationalist orientation in Western armed forces and the cosmopolitan demands of UN peacekeeping operations in Africa.During the cold war, UN peacekeeping was a relatively passive undertaking. Robust action was often prohibited because such action could lead to involvement in a conflict on one side or another, and perhaps ultimately to a clash involving the two superpowers.

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Until the end of the twentieth century, UN peacekeepers were often prohibited from using force outside self-defense. With the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica in the back of their minds, UN officials have recently changed this policy. At present, peacekeepers in the Congo, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Haiti are explicitly authorized to use force to protect civilians. The new policy is essential in preventing new debacles but it raises a number of ethical questions for peacekeepers. Should the peacekeeper concentrate on the protection of the individual if such protection jeopardizes the community or the mission? Should the peacekeeper solely think in terms of rights and duties, or should he or she also consider consequences? How to deal with the issue of moral engagement versus self-control? Peacekeepers need direction to answer these ethical questions. Unfortunately, conventional locations for finding ethical direction do not provide the guidance that peacekeepers seek. Consequently, peacekeepers will often encounter situations of moral confusion which this article defines as 'the fog of UN peacekeeping'. The article explains the fog of UN peacekeeping by showing how traditional guidelines fail to provide ethical direction in current peacekeeping operations. Despite the absence of ethical guidelines, soldiers need to prepare for the 'fog of peacekeeping'. An approach for an adequate preparation in the existing ethical vacuum is offered at the end of the article.

This article explores how variation in political embeddedness of social movement organi-zations (SMOs) influences the management of emotions. By variation in the political embed-dedness of SMOs, we mean variation in the strength and the number of ties between SMOs and the political establishment. By management of emotions, we mean the efforts of SMO leaders to evoke particular emotions among SMO members. Using data from protest surveys conducted at demonstrations regarding climate change in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2009, we find that protestors who are members of more politically embedded SMOs are generally less angry than protestors who are members of less politically embedded SMOs. The finding that this pattern is especially strong among SMO members who heard about the dem-onstration through an SMO confirms the assumed role of SMO leaders in the management of emotions.

In deze Forumbijdrage reflecteren wij op het themanummer 'Empirisch-juridisch onderzoek' van Justitiële verkenningen (2016, nr. 6). Als rechtssociologen, werkend vanuit de Internationale Law & Society-traditie, hebben we met zeer grote interesse kennis genomen van het themanummer. De centrale boodschap in het nummer-het belang van empirisch onderzoek naar de werking van het recht en juridische instituties-onderschrijven we van harte. Echter, zoals wellicht valt te verwachten van een bijdrage in deze rubriek zien we ook ruimte voor kritische reflectie. Met die reflectie beogen wij de discussie over een sociaalwetenschappelijke bestudering van het recht te verdiepen én te verbreden. * De auteurs hebben gelijkelijk bijgedragen aan deze tekst.