Peace Operations as A Vehicle for Participation in the Global Governance of International Organizations and States

Abstract

Peace operations are the place/or the engagement of a wide variety of actors: State, inter-governmental, and transnational. What explains this profusion? Three main explanations can be identified: first, the extension of peace operations to other fields of activity; second, the accentuation of traditionalism in international relations; and third, the willingness of these actors to participate in global governance. This paper further develops the analysis of this last explanation. It proposes to conceive peace operations as global governance projects. These operations can thus be seen as "test benches," or opportunities to develop coordination mechanisms and to test formulas and horizontal governance arrangements.