Peacekeeper Fatalities and Force Commitments to UN Operations

Abstract

To what extent do peacekeeper fatalities affect states’ contributions to UN operations? While the deaths of peacekeepers are thought to be a factor in states’ decisions to reduce the magnitude of their participation in a mission, not all states respond similarly to peacekeeper fatalities. I hypothesize that democracies and wealthy countries are likely to be more sensitive to peacekeeper deaths than their non-democratic and poorer counterparts. Analyses of UN peacekeeping operations between 1990 and 2011 confirm that peacekeeper fatalities generally have a negative effect upon the size of countries’ contributions to peacekeeping operations, and that wealthy countries are likely to make larger decreases to their contributions than poorer countries. There is less evidence, however, that democracies are more sensitive to peacekeeper fatalities than non-democracies.

A price for peace: troop contributing countries’ responses to peacekeeper fatalities

“…Democratic contributors may also differ from nondemocratic contributors both in their propensity to experience peacekeeper fatalities and the frequency by which they adjust their commitments. Peacekeeper deaths may generate domestic political costs that are greater for leaders of democratic states (see Levin 2021). As such, democratic leaders may more often respond to fatalities of their peacekeepers by reducing their personnel commitments.…”

“…Finally, a contributor's tolerance to peacekeeper fatalities may be explained by factors that also affect their propensity to receive aid. Levin (2021) finds that lower GDP states are more tolerant to fatalities than higher GDP states. Values for troop contributors' GDP (logged) is included to account for the possibility that GDP accounts for any correlation between aid receipts and responses to fatalities.…”

“…However, Raes, Du Bois, and Buts (2019) find that peacekeeper fatalities generally do not correspond with lower subsequent personnel commitments by OECD contributing countries. In contrast, Levin (2021) finds that fatalities tend to correspond with reductions in personnel commitments, but also reveals that a contributor's level of wealth conditions this relationship.…”

“…Two recent studies address this question empirically but arrive at different findings (Levin 2021;Raes, Bois, and Buts 2019). Each views peacekeeper fatalities as events that generate direct costs for the origin state of the fallen peacekeepers.…”

“…1 Levin (2021) points out that Pakistan's overall commitment of personnel to UNOSOM increased from 4,718 to 7,243 within one year following these events. Wealthier states withdraw at higher rates in response to fatalities whereas poorer states often increase their commitments.…”