Reconciling Theory with Practice: A Meta-theoretical Analysis of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Since its inception, the United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping operations have evolved alongside changing peace and security dynamics. These changes have led to doctrinal and operational reconfigurations of the architecture and theoretical underpinnings of peacekeeping as a tool for conflict management. In particular, and more recently, the transition from liberal to sustaining peace paradigms has re-affirmed the importance of certain operational peace models and birthed new analytical frames. These new framings notwithstanding, academic literature claiming transformation in the context of the UN’s operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reflects more of a continuum than transformation in the guiding framework in practice. This paper examines the theoretical and operational frames in the discourse of UN missions and their validity in analysing UN Peacekeeping missions in the DRC. Using a qualitative discourse approach, the authors find significant differences in the conceptual parameters used to evaluate progress made by UN missions and suggest that the gaps be bridged by reconciling theory and practice in a changing global security environment.”