Local Peace, International Builders

‘Through this book, readers will gain a novel perspective on the role of peacekeeping in building local peace. With careful fieldwork, lab-in-the-field experiments, cross-national analyses, and in-depth case studies, Nomikos provides compelling evidence that UN peacekeepers are uniquely capable of reducing communal violence. This is essential reading for practitioners, scholars and students of peacemaking and peacebuilding.’ Kyle Beardsley, Professor of Political Science, Duke University and co-author of Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping

‘Local Peace, International Builders offers an important contribution to a new generation of research on peacekeeping. Through an artful combination of research methods, Nomikos underscores the critical importance of peacekeeper impartiality. Citizen perceptions of peacekeepers on the ground in their day to day lives, we learn, make an enormous difference in the effectiveness of post-conflict recovery. Both scientific and optimistic, this book is a model for the next generation of peacekeeping research.’ Susan D. Hyde, Robson Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

‘How do UN peacekeepers keep the peace? William Nomikos offers a micro-level theory of peacekeeping, based on years of research in and on Mali, including interviews with local leaders and peacekeepers, behavioral games, surveys, and georeferenced data on troop deployments. He finds that when peacekeepers are viewed as impartial arbiters of communal disputes, they are able to de-escalate local conflicts that would otherwise escalate to broader violence. This is a must-read for anyone interested in peacekeeping and the de-escalation of violence.’ Lise Morjé Howard, Professor of Government and Foreign Service, Georgetown University

‘Although UN peacekeeping is often viewed skeptically, Will Nomikos demonstrates that it can have strongly positive effects in mitigating local conflicts when peacekeepers are perceived to be impartial. A thoroughly researched, multi-method study that explains when, how, and why peacekeeping matters with important lessons for the conduct of future peacekeeping missions.’ David A. Lake, Gerri-Ann and Gary E. Jacobs Professor of Social Science and Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of California San Diego

‘This work is one of the few that empirically tests the effects of unbiased actions and underlines their importance. The book’s findings and conclusion contain clear policy implications, even though it has been almost a decade since the UN authorized a new peacekeeping operation. … Highly recommended.’ P. F. Diehl, Choice