Analysing the use of compellence during peace operations

Compellence is a strategy that employs pressure to induce others to take specific actions. Contemporary international peace operations are expected to use force, if necessary, to protect civilians and/or maintain and restore order in the very volatile environment of post-civil war states. This challenging task requires peacekeepers to proactively change the status quo through compelling local warring factions to stop violence, disarm, and join peace processes. This thesis adopts a comparative case study approach, systematically analyses peace operations in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Somalia, and identifies conditions under which compellence is likely to succeed in peace operations. The overall finding of the thesis is that there are five conditions which favour the success of compellence in peace operations: the use of the gradual-turning-of-the-screw strategy; the actual use of force as the source of credibility; the achievement of counter-coercion negation as a form of denial; the achievement of stronghold neutralisation, which is another form of denial; and the absence of third-party support on the target side. Thus, a clearly one-sided situation in favour of compellers is necessary because target armed groups are evasive, and they have higher interests and stronger motivation than compellers in what is in dispute. This thesis provides the first systematic attempt to specifically analyse conditions for the success of compellence in international peace operations. This study contributes to the literature of compellence by identifying conditions for its success, focusing on the understudied context of compellence against non-state actors. The study also contributes to the field of peace operations by demonstrating how compellence can be a causal mechanism for achieving their objectives and when it is likely to work. The findings have practical implications as well. The conditions indicate what practitioners should achieve to successfully employ the strategy in peace operations.