Author(s)

Linxi Li ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Melbourne, 3800, Australia

Corresponding Author

Linxi Li

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the sustained failures of United Nations peacekeeping operations from the perspectives of liberalism and critical international relations theory, with the African Union Mission in Somalia (Somalia) as the main case study. Liberalism emphasizes institutional constraints, coordination issues, and excessive reliance on external support, while critical theory exposes deeper structural issues such as the dynamics of new colonial power, marginalization of local institutions, and global inequality in peacekeeping practices. Analysis suggests that current peace operations often prioritize regional security and donor interests over sustainable peace and inclusive governance. By drawing on local governance experiments in the Kurdish region of Syria, a shift towards a locally led, inclusive, and context sensitive peacekeeping model has been proposed, which emphasizes political legitimacy, cultural diversity, and bottom-up change.

KEYWORDS

Peacekeeping Operations, AMISOM, Critical Theory, Global Inequality, State building

CITE THIS PAPER

Linxi Li, Why Peacekeeping Operations Failed: Taking AMISOM as an Example. Social Security and Administration Management (2025) Vol. 6: 41-47. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/socsam.2025.060106.

REFERENCES

[1] Albrecht, P.,& Haenlein, C. (2016). Fragmented Peacekeeping: The African Union in Somalia. The RUSI Journal, 161 (1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2016.1152121
[2] Bruton, B. E., Williams, P. D.,& Joint. (2014). Counterinsurgency in Somalia. Independently Published.
[3] Diehl, P. F.,& Richmond, O. P. (2022). The Changing Face (s) of Peace Operations: Critical and Behavioral-Quantitative Paths for Future Research. Journal of International Peacekeeping, 25(3), 205–235. https://doi.org/10.1163/18754112-25030003
[4] He, X. (2023). The evolution of the post-Cold War stabilization operations of Western powers: From conquerors to colonizers. Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.
[5] Hesse, B. J. (2016). Two Generations, Two Interventions in One of the World's Most-Failed States: The United States, Kenya and Ethiopia in Somalia. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 51(5), 573–593. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909614552919
[6] Hull Wiklund, C. (2011). The role of the African Union Mission in Somalia: AMISOM – Peacekeeping, success or peacekeeping in regress? FOI – Swedish Defence Research Agency. https://www.foi.se/rest-api/report/FOI-R--3077--SE
[7] Karlsrud, J. (2023). "Pragmatic Peacekeeping" in Practice: Exit Liberal Peacekeeping, Enter UN Support Missions?. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 17 (3), 258–272. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2023.2198285
[8] Liu Zhongwei. (2016). Analysis of the United States' anti-terrorism strategy in Africa since the 9/11 incident. West Asia and Africa, (3), 21.
[9] Menkhaus, K. (2014). State Failure, State-Building, and Prospects for a "Functional Failed State" in Somalia. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 656 (1), 154–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716214547002
[10] Richmond, O. P. (2002). Maintaining order, making peace. Palgrave
[11] Richmond, O. P. (2014). Failed Statebuilding. Yale University Press.
[12] WeAll. (2020). Rojava: A model for ecological and feminist democracy. Wellbeing Economy Alliance. https://weall.org/resource/rojava
[13] Williams, P. D. (2018). Fighting for Peace in Somalia: AMISOM's Seven Strategic Challenges. Journal of International Peacekeeping, 22 (1-2), 1–50.
[14] Yang, X. (2020). Governance capacity and international cooperation under the pressure of globalization. School of Public Policy & Management, Tsinghua University.
[15] Albrecht, P.,& Haenlein, C. (2016). Fragmented Peacekeeping: The African Union in Somalia. The RUSI Journal, 161 (1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2016.1152121
[16] Chandler, D. (2010). International Statebuilding: The Rise of Post-Liberal Governance. Routledge. 

Sponsors, Associates, and Links

---

• Information Systems and Economics
  
  
• Accounting, Auditing and Finance
  
  
• Industrial Engineering and Innovation Management
  
  
• Tourism Management and Technology Economy
  
  
• Journal of Computational and Financial Econometrics
  
  
• Financial Engineering and Risk Management
  
  
• Accounting and Corporate Management
  
  
• Population, Resources & Environmental Economics
  
  
• Statistics & Quantitative Economics
  
  
• Agricultural & Forestry Economics and Management
  
  
• Social Medicine and Health Management
  
  
• Land Resource Management
  
  
• Information, Library and Archival Science
  
  
• Journal of Human Resource Development
  
  
• Manufacturing and Service Operations Management
  
  
• Operational Research and Cybernetics