Ending Civilian Victimization : The Combined Effect of Mediation and Peacekeeping on Violence against Civilians

Ending civilian victimization has become a primary purpose for third-party intervening actors as the brutal violence i contemporary conflicts increasingly affects the civilian population. To mitigate the violence, third-party actors use conflict management tools such as mediation and peacekeeping. Previous research has excessively examined these tools in isolation from one another, however, their combined effect has been neglected. In seeking to explore further pathways to combat violence against, this study examines the combined effectiveness of peacekeeping and mediation. I argue that peacekeeping and mediation interact, enhancing the violence-reducing effect of the other, which creates a stronger reduction effect on violence against civilians. Using monthly data counting civilian casualties in all African intrastate conflicts between 1993-2007, I find that mediation and peacekeeping have an interactive effect on violence against civilians, which is both reducing and stronger in comparison to the independent effect of these tools. The theoretical implications extend to UN troops and UN police. However, they are not applicable for UN observers and non-UN troops. Additional implications of the findings indicate that mediation should be present as a conflict management tool first after a large size of UN troops or UN police forces are deployed to most effectively reduce the levels of violence against civilians in conflict.