Peacekeeping: Organized Hypocrisy?

Abstract

The UN has been accused of hypocrisy — failing to act in accordance with the ideals it espouses — in post-Cold War peacekeeping missions. This article argues that such inconsistency can arise from ‘organized hypocrisy’, a phenomenon identified by organization theorists in which organizations respond to conflicting pressures in external environments through contradictory actions and statements. Organized hypocrisy may have both positive and negative effects on peacekeeping. On the one hand, it may produce or exacerbate gaps between commitments and resources, undermine reforms if they are decoupled from practice, and impede efforts to mitigate harmful peacekeeping externalities. On the other hand, organized hypocrisy may enable the UN, or regional organizations, to manage irreconcilable pressures that might otherwise render the organization incapable of effective action and threaten its survival. This article explains and develops the concept of organized hypocrisy, and apples it to post-Cold War peace operations.