The Pros And Cons Of Military Peacekeeping

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Militaries in general have witnessed a fast change in the nature of warfare, since the end of the cold war; armies become operating in more diverse locations, environments, cultures than ever before. In the past, militaries have had a sufficient methods of picturing of their enemy- the clearly know who their enemy is. Recently, military personnel need to negotiate with all of the conflict parties and remain impartial. Furthermore, in such warfare situation, military also need to cooperate and deal with a bunch of international organizations, media, and NGOs that are working in the battle field. This must be in a universal manner of interactions in relations to languages, cultures in a war torn country. All the latter require capable soldiers …show more content…

Odoi claims that "[w]ith a rising number of peacekeepers and over 100 UN troop and police contributing countries, there is a high potential for a 'clash of cultures' among the various players who are involved in a peace operation" (Odoi, 2005, p.3). So it goes without saying that it is the convergence of two distinct worlds. That said, the cultural challenge that peacekeeping faces; is twofold. Not only do peacekeepers have to learn to work together and integrate their cultural differences, but they also have to understand the population that they are dealing with. Odoi (2005) corroborates that "[p]eacekeepers must be able to manage and adapt to different multicultural settings that they will encounter in their relations with host communities; with peacekeepers’ from other nationalities, and in relation to the occupational differences within their own mission" (p.4). Rubinstein, et al. categorized the way in which culture influences interoperability between members of an integrated mission as “horizontal interoperability”, whereas where it influences the mission’s work with the local populations as “vertical interoperability” (2008, p. 542). Nevertheless, each of these groups find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Consequently, this unfamiliarity could translate into some dramatic cross-cultural

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