Introducing the Peacekeeping Mandates (PEMA) Dataset

• Date: 01 May 2022
• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Magnus Lundgren,Jessica Di Salvatore,Kseniya Oksamytna,Hannah M. Smidt
• DOI: 10.1177/00220027211068897
• Subject Matter: Data Set Features

Data Set Feature

Journal of Conf‌lict Resolution

2022, Vol. 66(4-5) 924–951

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/00220027211068897

journals.sagepub.com/home/jcr

Introducing the Peacekeeping

Mandates (PEMA) Dataset

Jessica Di Salvatore

1

, Magnus Lundgren

2

,

Kseniya Oksamytna

3

, and Hannah M. Smidt

4

Abstract

Research on UN peacekeeping operations has established that operations’size and

composition affect peacekeeping success. However, we lack systematic data for

evaluating whether variation in tasks assigned to UN peacekeeping mandates matters

and what explains different conf‌igurations of mandated tasks in the f‌irst place.

Drawing on UN Security Council resolutions that establish, extend, or revise

mandates of 27 UN peacekeeping operations in Africa in the 1991–2017 period, the

Peacekeeping Mandates (PEMA) dataset f‌ills this gap. It records 41 distinct tasks,

ranging from disarmament to reconciliation and electoral support. For each task, the

PEMA dataset also distinguishes between three modalities of engagement (moni-

toring, assisting, and securing) and whether the task is requested or merely en-

couraged. To illustrate the usefulness of our data, we re-examine Hultman, Kathman,

and Shannon’s (2013) analysis of operations’ability to protect civilians. Our results

show that host governments and rebel groups respond differently to civilian pro-

tection mandates.

Keywords

peacekeeping, mandates, civil wars, international organizations

1

University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

2

University of Gothenburg, Goteborg, Sweden

3

City, University of London; and King’s College London, London, UK

4

University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Corresponding Author:

Jessica Di Salvatore, Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.

Email: jessica.di-salvatore@warwick.ac.uk

Introduction

UN peacekeeping has become a central instrument of international conf‌lict resolution.

From its Cold War focus on ceasef‌ire monitoring in interstate conf‌licts, peacekeeping

has evolved to become increasingly ambitious. Contemporary peacekeeping operations

are asked to undertake a wide variety of different tasks, such as establishing security,

supervising elections, reforming security sector institutions, and reconciling com-

munities. While the growing importance of peacekeeping is usually highlighted using

the number of deployed troops (87,572 in 2021), costs ($6.37 billion in 2021–2022), or

fatalities (135 in 2021), the role of peacekeeping operations is ultimately def‌ined by

their mandates.

Since mandates regulate what peacekeepers are expected to do, they shape the

ability of UN operations to manage conf‌lict and assist governments and populations of

conf‌lict-affected countries. For example, in line with their mandate to protect civilians,

peacekeepers in South Sudan guarded several sites sheltering those displaced by vi-

olence, the largest of which equaled the Swiss capital Bern in population. The mandate

of the operation in Mali, among other tasks, included strong gender mainstreaming

language, and the mission worked on issues ranging from sexual and gender-based

violence to women’s participation in civil society.

Moreover, peacekeeping mandates not only affect what peacekeepers can achieve

but also ref‌lect the evolution of international norms. Peacekeeping mandates are the

result of a complex decision-making process involving the members of the UN Security

Council (UNSC), the UN Secretariat, and the parties to the conf‌lict. Debates on

concrete peacekeeping tasks often reveal deep-seated disagreements about the inter-

national community’s normative priorities. For instance, by the end of the 1990s, only

one operation had a mandate to protect civilians (the peacekeeping operation in Sierra

Leone). Over the past two decades, the mandates of almost all UN peacekeeping

operations have included civilian protection, which is a manifestation of international

norms of human security.

Beyond these examples, however, comprehensive cross-national and time-varying

data on tasks in UN peacekeeping mandates are not yet available. As a result, re-

searchers have made assumptions about mandate homogeneity, relied on simplif‌ied

proxy measures, or overlooked mandates completely. To rectify this situation, this

article introduces the Peacekeeping Mandates (PEMA) dataset covering all UN

peacekeeping operations in Africa in the 1991–2017 period.

1

The PEMA dataset

provides systematic, human-coded data on a comprehensive set of peacekeeping tasks

that are mandated by UNSC resolutions.

The PEMA dataset extends existing data collections on peacekeeping mandates in

three important ways. First, the PEMA dataset captures the evolution of mandated tasks

over the full lifespan of a peacekeeping operation. Almost all existing datasets focus on

initial mandates and do not cover mandate modif‌ications once peacekeepers deploy

(Mullenbach 2017;Diehl and Druckman 2018;Benson and Tucker 2019;Clayton,

Dorussen, and B¨

ohmelt 2021; for an exception see Lloyd 2021).

Di Salvatore et al. 925