1st Edition
Legitimacy, Peace Operations and Global-Regional Security The African Union-United Nations Partnership in Darfur
At the turn of the century the regional-global security partnership became a key element of peace and security policy-making. This book investigates the impact of the joint effort made by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to keep the peace and protect civilians in Darfur.
This book focuses on the collaboration that takes place in the field of conflict management between the global centre and the African regional level. It moves beyond the dominant framework on regional-global security partnerships, which mainly considers one-sided legal and political factors. Instead, new perspectives on the relationships are presented through the lens of international legitimacy. The book argues that the AU and the UN Security Council fight for legitimacy to ensure their positions of authority and to improve the chances of success of their activities. It demonstrates in regard to the case of Darfur why and how legitimacy matters for states, international organisations, and also for global actors and local populations.
Legitimacy, Peace Operations and Global-Regional Security will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, African Security and Global Governance.
1. Introduction: Impacts of AU-UN Collaboration Part 1: The Regional-Global Debate, International Legitimacy and Civilian Protection 2. The Regional-Global Debate and Mutual Legitimation 3. African Regional Organisations and the UN Part 2: The AU-UN Relationship, Mutual Legitimation and Civilian Protection in Darfur 4. The AU’s Legitimation of the AU-UN Response in Darfur 5. The UN’s Legitimation of the AU-UN Response in Darfur 6. AMIS, UNAMID and Civilian Protection 7. Conclusion: Coming Together To Protect?
Biography
Linnéa Gelot is a Post-doctoral fellow at the Gothenburg Centre of Globalization and Development (GCGD) and a researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) in Uppsala, Sweden.
'Debates over the appropriate relationship between the United Nations and regional arrangements are only going to intensify. This innovative new study analyzes the collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union concerning civilian protection in Darfur. It provides a sophisticated discussion of the many challenges that arise when the global organization is seen as illegitimate by the host government while the regional organization lacks the capabilities to carry out the robust peacekeeping required to protect civilians.' - Paul D. Williams, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, USA.
'Linnea Gelot explains convincingly how the AU benefitted from the UN’s international legitimacy for its AMIS mission in Darfur, and how the UN depended on the local and regional legitimacy of the AU for the successful transition of the Darfur mission to UNAMID. She finds that the mutual recognition of the tangible value derived from this legitimacy allowed the relationship between the UN and the AU to mature into a partnership. Gelot’s book tackles the complex links between legitimacy and power head-on and unmasks the important role collective legitimation plays in fostering regional-global relations.' - Cedric de Coning, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Norway.
'Simply the best book available on the global-regional security partnership! Through an innovative lense of international legitimation, Gelot leads the way into the next generation of scholarly work on the much-discussed partnership between the United Nations and regional organizations.' - Fredrik Söderbaum, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Gelot’s book refreshingly contributes to the current debate by emphasizing some crucial and too often overlooked characteristics of the regional-global collaboration which is increasingly shaping the international peace and security domain. This book will therefore definitely serve as a valuable tool for students and scholars of the regional-global partnership.
Yf Reykers Research Fellow, Leuven University
