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Purpose This study aims to identify the main challenges to achieving humanitarian logistics in the context of United Nations peace missions in sub-Saharan Africa and to present suggestions for overcoming the logistical gaps encountered. Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach of the work focuses on the comparative case study of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic and The United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2014 to 2021. The approach combined a systematic literature review with the authors’ empirical experience as participant observers in each mission, combining theory and practice. Findings As a result, six common challenges were identified for carrying out humanitarian logistics in the three peace missions. Each challenge revealed a logistical gap for which an appropriate solution was suggested based on the best practices found in the case study of each mission. Research limitations/implications This paper presents limitations when addressing the logistical analysis based on only three countries under the UN mission as a case study, as well as conceiving that certain flaws in the system, in the observed period, are already in the process of correction with the adoption of the 2016–2021 strategy by the UN Global Logistic Cluster. The authors suggest that further studies can be carried out by expanding the number of cases or using countries where other bodies (AU, NATO or EU) work. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first comparative case study of humanitarian logistics on the three principal missions of the UN conducted by academics and practitioners.

This paper examines Ghana’s contribution to peace and security in Africa through the United Nations Peacekeeping operations (PKOs). The paper employed the qualitative research approach (interviews and content analysis) in achieving the intended objectives. It relied on three theories: neo-institutionalism, collective security and rational choice theory as major theoretical frameworks for the analysis. The paper argues, besides, the economic benefits to the individual and the state, state image and reputation, both military and democratic regimes have committed resources to such missions in an attempt to legitimize their regimes and also for the survival of the regime in power. Suffice to say neo-institutionalism and collective security are employed as means to achieve a rational choice objective. The findings, however, suggest that even though coup aversion might not be the direct motivation for Ghana’s enormous contribution to PKOs, especially within the subregion, issues of state security and peace, legitimacy and regime survival are of prime concern. It is recommended that the UN should endeavor to restructure PKOs to ensure global political stability as well as to discourage illegitimate regimes from exploiting the missions.

Based on the work-family enrichment theory, this study analyzes the contribution of work-family and family-work enrichment to explain the military’s well-being during a peacekeeping mission. The data used were collected in a sample of 306 Brazilian soldiers, who were married and/or had children, during the phase named “employment of troops” (i.e., when peacekeepers had been in the Haitian territory and, as a result, away from their families, for between three to five months). Data analysis was performed using the Structural Equations Model. It was observed that the military’s perception of their spouses’ support for their participation during the mission had a positive relationship with both family-to-work enrichment and work-to-family enrichment, and the work-to-family enrichment mediated the relationship between the perception of the spouses’ support and the military’s health perception and general satisfaction with life. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed and limitations and suggestions for future research were presented.

Mobilising the concept of strategic culture, this study develops a sophisticated and innovative framework to understand developments in German security policy between 1990 and 2003. Germany's contemporary security policies are characterised by a peculiar mix of continuity and change. From abstention in the first Gulf war, to early peacekeeping missions in Bosnia in the early 1990s and a full combat role in Kosovo in 1999, the pace of change in German security policy since the end of the Cold War has been breathtaking. The extent of this change has recently, however, been questioned, as seen most vividly in Berlin's response to '9/11' and its subsequent stalwart opposition to the US-led war on terrorism in Iraq in 2003. Beginning with a consideration of the notion of strategic culture, the study refines and adapts the concept to the case of Germany through a consideration of aspects of the rearmament of West Germany. The study then critically evaluates the transformation of the role of the Bundeswehr up to and including the war on terrorism, together with Germany's troubled efforts to enact defence reforms as well as the complex politics surrounding the policy of conscription. By focusing on both the 'domestics' of security policy decision making as well as the changing and often contradictory expectations of Germany's allies, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the role played by Germany's particular strategic culture in shaping policy choices. The book concludes by pointing to the vibrancy of Germany's strategic culture and argues that it will continue to define Berlin's approach to the use of force. Crucially, this may mean that Germany's perspectives may depart substantially from those of its key partners and allies. This book is essential reading for all those interested in contemporary European security as well as German politics.

Research shows a potential threat from external environmental factors which might be the cause of upper and lower gastrointestinal diseases in tourists, or soldiers engaged in tropical peacekeeping missions. The research includes infections which due to their spread are also present in their home countries such as Helicobacter pylori infections, viral hepatitis as well as infections which might cause symptoms of upper and lower gastrointestinal tract diseases as a result of poor sanitary and unhygienic conditions. Contact with diseases typical of the tropical climate, especially during longer stays, increases the chances of bringing some tropical diseases back to Poland, which can be problematic for the domestic health care service.

Ghana is among the largest military contributors to UN Peacekeeping Missions (PKM). Irrespective of Ghana’s considerably smaller population size, armed forces capabilities and state budget than other contributing states such as India and Nigeria, Ghana has been substantially involved in most of UN PKM from the very beginning of its independent statehood. This article identifies some reasons for this participation. We apply a rational choice theory and public goods approach to frame three hypotheses. Subsequently, we test the hypotheses using data of the UN and Ghana Government, and also data from interviews with Ghana Army representatives. We conclude that there are at least two significant motivations for the Ghana’s participation in PKM, namely: financial benefits and regional security concerns.

The article traces the development of the concept of UN peacekeeping missions from the late 1940s, when they were first applied, to the so-called second generation of peacekeeping missions, which is primarily linked with the 1990s. Designating the changes in carrying out peacekeeping missions as normative, quantitative and qualitative, the author also discusses shifts in the understanding of traditional principles of consent of the parties, impartiality of observers and non-use of force in most cases, which were observed by most peacekeeping missions in the Cold War period. The other focus of this article is the case study of the UNTAES peacekeeping mission carried out from January 15, 1996 to January 15, 1998 in Eastern Slavonia, Sirmium and Baranja, which is considered one of the very rare examples of successful application of the second generation of UN peacekeeping missions, but also of peacekeeping missions in general. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

During the eight years of the Reagan administration, the US military underwent a major revitalization, the effects of which are still felt today. The services saw significant organizational, technological, doctrinal, and administrative changes while also undertaking a number of military operations with lasting geopolitical implications. The overall command structure for US military forces around the world underwent significant reorganization in the Reagan years. The US military during the Reagan administration also carried out extensive military training and peacekeeping missions in various countries. The most controversial were those in Central America, but other missions with significant long‐term implications occurred in Egypt. Though the operational experience of the US military in the Reagan years was not inconsequential, it was the organizational, technological, doctrinal, and administrative reforms that would have the greatest impact past the end of the Cold War, through the remainder of the twentieth century and into the twenty‐first century.

This chapter contains sections titled: Rescuing American Citizens Peacekeeping Missions The Promotion of Democracy Bibliography