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Videos by Paul D Williams

This video provides a short overview of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and summari... more This video provides a short overview of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and summarizes the independent assessment of the mission conducted by a team of researchers from the Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON) in 2018.

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Books by Paul D Williams

Polity Press, 2021

Peace operations remain a principal tool for managing armed conflict and protecting civilians. Th... more Peace operations remain a principal tool for managing armed conflict and protecting civilians. The fully revised, expanded and updated third edition of Understanding Peacekeeping provides a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the theory, history, and politics of peace operations.

Drawing on a dataset of nearly two hundred historical and contemporary missions, this book evaluates the changing characteristics of the contemporary international environment in which peace operations are deployed, the strategic purposes peace operations are intended to achieve, and the major challenges facing today’s peacekeepers. All the chapters have been revised and updated, and five new chapters have been added – on stabilization, organized crime, exit strategies, force generation, and the use of force.

Part 1 summarizes the central concepts and issues related to peace operations. Part 2 charts the historical development of peacekeeping, from 1945 through to 2020. Part 3 analyses the strategic purposes that United Nations and other peace operations are intended to achieve – namely, prevention, observation, assistance, enforcement, stabilization, and administration. Part 4 looks forward and examines the central challenges facing today’s peacekeepers: force generation, the regionalization and privatization of peace operations, the use of force, civilian protection, gender issues, policing and organized crime, and exit strategies.

Fighting for Peace in Somalia provides the first comprehensive analysis of AMISOM, an operation d... more Fighting for Peace in Somalia provides the first comprehensive analysis of AMISOM, an operation deployed in 2007 to stabilize the country and defend its fledgling government from one of the world's deadliest militant organizations, Harakat al-Shabaab. The book's two parts provide a history of the mission from its genesis in an earlier, failed regional initiative in 2005 up to mid-2017, as well as an analysis of the mission's six most important challenges, namely, logistics, security sector reform, civilian protection, strategic communications, stabilization, and developing a successful exit strategy. These issues are all central to the broader debates about how to design effective peace operations in Africa and beyond.

Security Studies: An Introduction, 3rd edition, is the most comprehensive textbook available on t... more Security Studies: An Introduction, 3rd edition, is the most comprehensive textbook available on the subject, providing students with an essential grounding in the debates, frameworks, and issues on the contemporary security agenda.

This new edition has been comprehensively revised and updated, with new chapters added on poststructuralism, postcolonialism, securitization, peace and violence, development, women, peace and security, cybersecurity, and outer space.

Divided into four parts, the text provides students with a detailed, accessible overview of the major theoretical approaches, key themes, and most significant issues within security studies.

Part 1 explores the main theoretical approaches from both traditional and critical standpoints
Part 2 explains the central concepts underpinning contemporary debates
Part 3 presents an overview of the institutional security architecture
Part 4 examines some of the key contemporary challenges to global security

Collecting these related strands into a single textbook creates a valuable teaching tool and a comprehensive, accessible learning resource for undergraduates and MA students.

This book provides an analysis of both the theory and practice of the AU’s attempts to protect ci... more This book provides an analysis of both the theory and practice of the AU’s attempts to protect civilian populations through its peace operations. After summarising the AU’s approach to defining civilian protection and its initial attempts to implement PoC mandates, the chapters that follow provide case studies of some of the AU’s largest missions – in Darfur, Somalia, Mali and CAR. The concluding chapter of this publication reflects on the major lessons learned from the AU’s experiences of trying to protect civilians in its PSOs.

The Oxford Handbook of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations offers for the first time a compreh... more The Oxford Handbook of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations offers for the first time a comprehensive overview and assessment of all 67 United Nations peacekeeping operations conducted between 1948 and 2013. Written by leading scholars and senior practitioners the handbook presents a chapter-by-chapter chronological analysis of the historical background, major development and overall effectiveness of each UN peacekeeping operation. In addition, the handbook includes a collection of thematic chapters that examine key issues such as 'major trends of peace operations', 'the link between peacekeeping, humanitarian interventions and the responsibility to protect', 'peacekeeping and international law', 'the UN's inter-organizational partnerships' and 'how to evaluate success or failure'. This handbook brings together leading scholars and senior practitioners in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of the successes, failures and lessons learned of UN peacekeeping since 1948. This is a unique reference book for scholars and practitioners working in the field of international relations, international security, peacekeeping and global governance.

During the first decade of the twenty-first century, the rising demand for peacekeepers saw the U... more During the first decade of the twenty-first century, the rising demand for peacekeepers saw the United Nations (UN) operate at a historically unprecedented tempo, with increases in the number and size of missions as well as in the scope and complexity of their mandates. The need to deploy over 120,000 UN peacekeepers and the demands placed upon them in the field have threatened to outstrip the willingness and to some extent capacity of the UN's Member States. This situation raised the questions of why states contribute forces to UN missions and, conversely, what factors inhibit them from doing more? Providing Peacekeepers answers these questions. After summarizing the challenges confronting the UN in its force generation efforts, the book develops a new framework for analyzing UN peacekeeping contributions in light of the evidence presented in sixteen case study chapters which examine the experiences of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Ghana, Nepal, Uruguay, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa, and Japan. The book concludes by offering recommendations for how the UN might develop new strategies for force generation so as to meet the foreseeable challenges of twenty-first century peacekeeping and improve the quantity and quality of its uniformed peacekeepers.

After the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being the world's most bloody contin... more After the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being the world's most bloody continent. But how can we explain this proliferation of armed conflicts? What caused them and what were their main characteristics? And what did the world's governments do to stop them?

In addressing these and other questions, Paul Williams offers the first comparative assessment of more than two hundred armed conflicts which took place in Africa between 1990 and 2009 - from the continental catastrophe in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the environmental disaster in the Niger Delta and mass atrocities in the Sudan. Taking a broad comparative approach to examine the political contexts in which these wars occurred, he explores the key ingredients that provoked them and the major international responses undertaken to deliver lasting peace.

Part I, Contexts provides an overview of the most important attempts to measure the number and scale of Africa's armed conflicts and provides a conceptual and political sketch of the terrain of struggle upon which these wars were waged.

Part II, Ingredients analyses the role of five widely debated features of Africa's wars: the dynamics of neopatrimonial systems of governance; the construction and manipulation of ethnic identities; questions of sovereignty and self-determination; as well as the impact of natural resources and religion.

Part III, Responses, discusses four major international reactions to Africa's wars: attempts to build a new institutional architecture to help promote peace and security on the continent; this architecture's two main policy instruments, peacemaking initiatives and peacekeeping operations; and efforts to develop the continent.

War and Conflict in Africa will be essential reading for all students of international peace and security studies as well as Africa's international relations.

Ph.D. thesis, 2001

The central question addressed by this thesis is: what political roles can intellectuals play as ... more The central question addressed by this thesis is: what political roles can intellectuals play as agents of security? It attempts to answer this in two stages. First, by developing a typology for thinking about the political roles that intellectuals can play in periods of transition. Second, by using this typology to analyse the roles played by three groups of intellectuals during South Africa’s transition from apartheid. The three groups analysed are: the Afrikaner Broederbond (Bond); the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA); and the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee (CAHAC).
Part I starts with an overview of the Critical Security Studies (CSS) perspective on three fundamental questions: What is security? Whose security are we talking about? And, what constitutes a security issue? Part I then seeks to fill a gap in the literature by thinking through the political roles that intellectuals can play as agents of security. After providing a brief etymology of the term ‘intellectual,’ it is argued that a neo-Gramscian perspective offers a useful way of thinking about the roles intellectuals can play, especially in the construction and reconstruction of political order and defining what counts as ‘common sense’. While a neo-Gramscian perspective provides security analysts with a sophisticated conceptual tool-kit, it provides only general answers to questions about the roles of intellectuals. Part I therefore concludes by developing a typology for thinking about the roles played by intellectuals in a manner germane to Security Studies. This typology suggests that, in relation to their particular audiences, intellectuals engage in a process of reflection; provide interpretations of the political world; construct visions of possible futures (both desirable and undesirable); and engage with potentially significant audiences to turn their preferred vision into reality.
In Part II this typology is deployed in conjunction with Gramsci’s distinction between traditional and organic intellectuals to analyse the political roles played by three groups of intellectuals during South Africa’s transition: the Bond, as an example of the organic intellectuals of Afrikaner nationalism; the SAIIA, as an example of Gramsci’s traditional intellectuals; and the CAHAC, as an example of the organic intellectuals of the liberation struggle.
The Conclusion reflects upon the findings of Parts I and II by briefly discussing three further questions. What does this thesis add to received accounts of South Africa’s transition? How do the three groups of intellectuals differ on the fundamental questions of CSS? And, how might critical intellectuals contribute to emancipatory change?

Papers by Paul D Williams

Springer eBooks, Nov 3, 2020

UN Peacekeeping Doctrine in a New Era, 2017

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Polity Press, 2021

Divided into four parts, the text provides students with a detailed, accessible overview of the major theoretical approaches, key themes, and most significant issues within security studies.

Collecting these related strands into a single textbook creates a valuable teaching tool and a comprehensive, accessible learning resource for undergraduates and MA students.

War and Conflict in Africa will be essential reading for all students of international peace and security studies as well as Africa's international relations.

Ph.D. thesis, 2001

Springer eBooks, Nov 3, 2020

UN Peacekeeping Doctrine in a New Era, 2017

: The protection of civilians is a critical issue in African security. Nearly 600,000 civilians i... more : The protection of civilians is a critical issue in African security. Nearly 600,000 civilians in 27 African countries have been massacred in the past two decades. Tens of millions more have been killed in battles, displaced, or perished from indirect causes of such attacks and the continents armed conflicts. Not only are civilians the main victims of Africas wars, but also an increasing number of United Nations(UN) Security Council resolutions have called upon peacekeepers to protect them. For many, civilian protection is the very essence of peacekeeping. This is a driving rationale behind the unanimously endorsed and UN-mandated responsibility to protect principlethe idea that governments have a responsibility to prevent and curtail genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing. Civilian protection is also a crucial part of forging durable political settlements because any peace agreement that tolerates continued violence against civilians will not provide a...

In mid-1995, Britain provided over 10,000 United Nations (UN) peacekeepers, more than any other c... more In mid-1995, Britain provided over 10,000 United Nations (UN) peacekeepers, more than any other country in the world. By 1996 this number had plummeted to a few hundred and has been consistently below 400 since 2005. In September 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the UK would deploy up to 370 British troops to UN-mandated peace operations in Somalia and South Sudan, more than doubling the UK’s personnel commitment to UN-mandated operations. Combined with the withdrawal of UK forces from Afghanistan, the release of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), and the UK’s hosting of the next Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping in September 2016, this decision has intensified debates about whether and how the UK should increase its participation in UN peace operations. This report reflects on how UN peace operations could be integrated into UK foreign policy and makes a case for why Britain should enhance its participation in UN peace operations.

Political Studies, 2001

This article explores how New Labour has attempted to implement its ideas about a ‘third way’ for... more This article explores how New Labour has attempted to implement its ideas about a ‘third way’ foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa. Through an examination of British foreign policy practices, we explore whether New Labour has succeeded in finding a ‘third way’ between traditional views of socialism and capitalism in Africa. In particular, the article focuses on New Labour's attempts to build peace, prosperity and democracy on the African continent. We conclude that although New Labour's claims to add an ‘ethical dimension’ to foreign policy have succeeded in giving Britain a higher profile in the international arena, the implementation of such a policy is intrinsically difficult. These difficulties in turn arise from the antinomies embodied in New Labour's policy, or more specifically from the tension between the liberal internationalism of the third way and traditional concerns for the national interest, as well as the contradictions inherent in a commitment to both pol...

International Affairs, 2004

African Affairs, 2001

This article explores how far the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sabotaged the... more This article explores how far the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sabotaged the attempts of South African President Thabo Mbeki to engineer an African Renaissance. It does so in three stages. The first section discusses how South Africa's African policy has been influenced by Mbeki's vision of a renaissance and exactly what this has entailed. The second section then provides an analysis of the conflict in the DRC and suggests that the primary factor driving the violence is a form of kleptocratic political economy, what we call vagabondage politique. The third discusses South Africa's unsuccessful attempts to broker a peace agreement. The article concludes that, ironically, the very neo-liberal principles that lie at the heart of Mbeki's vision of an African Renaissance have contributed to the erosion of the neo-patrimonial state in Africa and actually encouraged the growth of what William Reno described as 'warlord capitalism'. Thus, instead of understanding the war in the DRC as the antithesis of an African Renaissance, it may well represent a prophetic glimpse of what the dark side of neo-liberalism has in store for areas of the globe that remain peripheral to the affairs of the great powers. FRANTZ FANON ONCE REMARKED that Africa was the shape of a revolver with Congo as its trigger. The ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that erupted once more in August 1998, is threatening to verify Fanon's prophetic remark. It is also threatening to derail South African President Thabo Mbeki's vision of a united and developing continent, based around the concept of an 'African Renaissance'. As one report asserted, 'The much-heralded "African Renaissance" is increasingly falling under threat from conflict situations on a fragmented continent that only accounts for 6 percent of the gross domestic product of developing countries'. 1 265

Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 2019

Peacekeepers in cities face particular challenges because cities are densely populated and hetero... more Peacekeepers in cities face particular challenges because cities are densely populated and heterogeneous, encompass multiple terrains and fluid features, and host key assets of political, economic and strategic importance. Attacks targeting peacekeepers in cities constitute a recurrent problem, but how do they affect a peace operation's activities? We theorise the effects of such violence on three outcomes: patrolling and outreach, use of force, and the establishment of new bases. We explore these dynamics by analysing intracity dynamics of violence and operational activity following attacks on African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Mogadishu, Somalia, from initial deployment in 2007 through 2009. We use the geo-referenced UCDP Peacemakers at Risk (PAR) dataset and extend it by coding specific city sub-locations for incidences of violence, allowing us to analyse the spatiality of violence involving peacekeepers in Mogadishu. The evidence suggests that during its first three years, attacks on AMISOM significantly hampered its ability to spread out in the city and operate effectively, but did not evidently alter wider patterns of violence in the city. Despite these challenges, AMISOM managed to fulfil the core element of its mandate: preventing the overthrow of the Somali Transitional Federal Government.

Social Science Research Network, 2016

In recent years, a growing number of UN peacekeepers have been mandated to carry out “stabilizati... more In recent years, a growing number of UN peacekeepers have been mandated to carry out “stabilization” tasks. Yet the UN still has no explicit definition of or framework for this concept, and most recent stabilization operations, such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq, occurred under quite different circumstances from UN peacekeeping operations. The AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which has long operated with the consent of a weak host government, in parallel with external and local forces, under a complex mandate, and with African personnel, may offer a more useful point of comparison. The latest report by IPI investigates what lessons UN peacekeepers can draw from the AU’s experience in Somalia. AMISOM suffered from a number of political and operational challenges in its attempt to implement an effective stabilization strategy. It suffered from, inter alia, overly securitized responses, fragmented command and control, inadequate logistical support and force enablers, and a failure to...

Prism: A Journal of the Center for Complex Operations, 2016

Since the end of the Cold War, Africa has experienced a disproportionately large number of armed ... more Since the end of the Cold War, Africa has experienced a disproportionately large number of armed conflicts. According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), there have been an estimated 630 state-based and nonstate armed conflicts on the continent between 1990 and 2015. Explanations for this glut of armed conflicts in Africa remain the subject of debates.2 Nevertheless, between the early 1990s and the late 2000s, Africa underwent a period of significant progress in reducing the number and intensity of armed conflicts.3 Since 2010, however, the continent has witnessed some disturbing upward conflict trends. Specifically, there have been significant reversals in the decline of state-based armed conflicts and deliberate campaigns of violence against civilians; religious and environmental factors have played increasingly significant roles in a wide range of armed conflicts; there has been a dramatic increase in the levels of popular protests across the continent; as well as an exp...

Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 2013

, it was not until late May 2013 that the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) adopted a mis... more , it was not until late May 2013 that the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) adopted a mission-wide protection-of-civilians (PoC) strategy. This article helps explain this long delay by highlighting the multiple PoC challenges faced by the mission. First, it shows how AMISOM's relevant documents contained a variety of mixed messages on PoC issues. Second, it illustrates some of the ways in which the African Union was hardly an ideal actor to implement a civilian protection agenda because of its limited previous experience with these issues. Third, it analyzes the ways in which AMISOM was itself sometimes a source of civilian harm in Mogadishu. The fourth section examines the remedial policies AMISOM adopted to try and alleviate this problem. The conclusion reflects on the current PoC challenges facing AMISOM and suggests that to be successful the new mission-wide strategy must overcome these material, legal, moral, and doctrinal challenges.

Stability: International Journal of Security and Development, 2018

The Journal of Modern African Studies, 2018

In December 2015, the African Union (AU) took the unprecedented step of threatening to use milita... more In December 2015, the African Union (AU) took the unprecedented step of threatening to use military force against the government of Burundi's wishes in order to protect civilians caught up in the country's intensifying domestic crisis. This article traces the background to this decision and analyses the effectiveness and credibility of the AU's use of coercive diplomacy as a tool of conflict management. After its usual range of conflict management tools failed to stem the Burundian crisis, the AU Commission and Peace and Security Council tried a new type of military compellence by invoking Article 4(h) of the Union's Constitutive Act. We argue that the threatened intervention never materialised because of (1) the Burundian government's astute diplomacy and (2) several African autocrats’ resistance to setting a precedent for future interventions where concerns about civilian protection might override state sovereignty.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018

This trend runs counter to a longstanding, if unwritten, principle that UN peacekeeping missions ... more This trend runs counter to a longstanding, if unwritten, principle that UN peacekeeping missions should seek to avoid deployment of troops or police from "neighbors" in order to mitigate the risks associated with these countries' national interests in the host countries. It also means there would be significant implications if policymakers wished to reverse this trend. Perhaps most notably, ending it would put major additional pressure on the UN's force generation process.

Global Policy, 2017

Never before has it been so important for policymakers to balance regional and global forms of pe... more Never before has it been so important for policymakers to balance regional and global forms of peacekeeping. Although the United Nations Security Council retains primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security and is the single largest source of peacekeepers, some regional organizations, particularly in Africa and Europe, are playing increasingly important roles. This article analyzes the relationship between UN peace operations and those conducted by regional organizations. After summarizing recent trends in regional-global collaboration it analyzes the opportunities and risks of increasing the regionalization of peace operations. Current policy challenges are daunting, not least because better-resourced missions alone will not bring peace to contemporary warzones. Rather, policymakers should clarify the nature and limits of UN peace operations; ensure partnerships between the UN and regional organizations can deliver effective peace operations in the field; and embed peace operations within a viable conflict resolution strategy to end the war or crisis in question.

Over 50 peace operations have been deployed to 18 African countries since 2000. u "Partnership pe... more Over 50 peace operations have been deployed to 18 African countries since 2000. u "Partnership peacekeeping," which involves collaboration between various multilateral and bilateral actors and institutions, has become increasingly common. u Force generation efforts should focus on deploying the capabilities needed to realize mission objectives and not solely on numbers of peacekeepers. u Peace operations must be seen as part of an effective political strategy aimed at conflict resolution not a substitute for it. u Maintaining legitimacy among international and local stakeholders is a crucial part of achieving success. u International disagreements persist over the fundamental purpose of peace operations, particularly with regard to the use of military force.

International Peacekeeping, 2016

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the p... more This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

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