Embracing dynamic tensions: Peacekeeping as a balancing act of complexity

• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Author: Soili Paananen,Alisa Puustinen,Harri Raisio,Harri Jalonen
• Date: 01 November 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13535

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Embracing dynamic tensions: Peacekeeping as a balancing

act of complexity

Soili Paananen

1

|Alisa Puustinen

2

|Harri Raisio

3

|Harri Jalonen

3

1

Department of Leadership and Military

Pedagogy, National Defence University, Helsinki,

Finland

2

Emergency Services Academy Finland, Kuopio,

Finland

3

School of Management, University of Vaasa,

Vaasa, Finland

Correspondence

Soili Paananen, Department of Leadership and

Military Pedagogy, National Defence University,

P.O. Box 7, FI-00861 Helsinki, Finland.

Email: soili.paananen@mil.fi

Abstract

The article examines how military leaders serving as peacekeepers navigate com-

plexity and adapt to it. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are linked to

adaptive peacebuilding and Complexity Leadership Theory, and specifically to

how enabling leadership through adaptive space helps to work with the local con-

flict dynamics and change to sustain peace. The findings are based on 29 inter-

views with military leaders with command experience in peacekeeping operations.

The findings introduce five dimensions that unpack complexity into structural,

functional, security-related, professional, and steering-related complexity and pro-

vide empirical evidence on balancing actions relating to complexity in a peace-

keeping context. The article develops an analytical framework for peacekeeping. It

also contributes to Complexity Leadership Theory by unpacking the complexity

into dimensions, unpacking the actors into groups and communities with commit-

ments, and addressing power relations and the dark side of their emergence.

Evidence for Practice

•Unpacking complexity into dimensions advances leaders’understanding of their

environment and enables them to avoid taking simplistic actions to address

complex issues.

•The dimensions of complexity and its inherent tensions and actions advance the

development of leadership processes and practices.

•Leaders’balancing actions are always enabled, restricted, and co-evolved in

political, historical, economic, and temporal contexts.

INTRODUCTION

This article addresses the issue of leadership in peacekeeping

by identifying the tensions in operation from the perspective

of military participants and seeks to contribute to leadership

theory by developing an analytical framework for the com-

plexity caused by a crisis. Here a crisis refers to a conflict

between parties that poses a threat; and which necessitates

an intercession to break the conflict cycle to help countries

riven by conflict and its destructive effects (United

Nations, 2008). Peacekeeping is an intervention to create

conditions for a safe and secure environment. Military

leaders, among others, are in a position to stabilize the situa-

tion and make a change to establish sustainable peace.

Peacekeeping environments have been described as

asymmetric (Nuciari & Olivetta, 2021), fluid (Turnley,

2021), complex, and extreme (Hannah et al., 2009;

Stern, 2017). Despite the increased pervasiveness of com-

plexity, there is surprisingly little scholarly literature on

the precise meaning of complexity in peace operation

settings, and how military leaders navigate that complex-

ity. We examine Complexity Leadership Theory and the

adaptive peacebuilding approach to understand the

nature of the complexity facing military leaders in their

environment and what kind of actions they take to

address it (McChrystal et al., 2015; Paparone et al., 2008).

We hope to reveal what it means to lead in a peacekeep-

ing environment.

Received: 27 August 2021Revised: 9 June 2022Accepted: 10 June 2022

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13535

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permitsuse and distribution in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

© 2022 The Authors. Public Administration Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Public Administration.

1168 Public Admin Rev. 2022;82:1168–1178.

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