Understanding Conflict Resolution
Chapter 10: Coercion and enforcement
Sanctions
The use of economic and targeted sanctions has given rise to considerable debate and reforms within international organizations. Mostly, this has dealt with the UN and the EU:
Targeted Sanctions: The Impact and Effectiveness of UN Action from 2016 is edited by Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert and Marcos Tourinho (Cambridge University Press) and presents analyses of sanctions episodes, i.e., evaluates the impact of each separate decision by the UN. M. Eriksson 2010. Targeting Peace, Understanding UN and EU Targeted Sanctions, Farnham, UK: Ashgate. Eriksson deals both with UN and EU targeted sanctions, the type of sanctions that have entirely replaced the earlier comprehensive approaches.
P. Wallensteen and H. Grusell 2012. ‘Targeting the Right Targets? The UN Use of Individual Sanctions’, Global Governance, 18 (2): 207–30. In this work, the UN application of sanctions on individuals is analysed. It uncovers in some detail the various ways in which targeted individuals react to this type of pressure.
Peacekeeping
Melander, E. 2009. ‘Selected to Go Where Murderers Lurk? The Preventive Effect of Peacekeeping on Mass Killings of Civilians’, Conflict Management and Peace Sciences, 26 (4): 389–406.
As is the case with sanctions, also peacekeeping has been much debated with respect to its actual impact in local situations. Melander studies the impact on the security of civilians, taking into account that peacekeepers often go to the most difficult cases.