CP solves, US leadership key

The Biden Administration’s Opportunity Amid increasing global power competition that has stunted the UNSC’s basic ability to manage international peace and security, Secretary-General Guterres launched the “Action for Peacekeeping” initiative to renew the international commitment to peacekeeping. Guterres’ efforts culminated in 2018 with a multilateral pledge to build collective action to strengthen U.N. peacekeeping operations. The United States endorsed the declaration in 2018; the Biden administration should take several steps to demonstrate American support for Guterres’ effort and advance policies to support more flexible and responsive peacekeeping deployments. Pay up: It seems relatively straightforward, but simply paying its dues will go far to repairing frayed U.S. credibility on multilateral issues. Doing so would help to restore U.S. leverage on the Security Council and rebuff criticisms from China and other permanent members about U.S. freeloading, an argument used in favor of reducing the perceived outsized weight of the United States on the Security Council. At the same time, the United States should continue to make the case that, relative to the world’s other major economies, Washington shoulders too much of the burden of multilateral peacekeeping operations. The upcoming review of the U.N.’s assessed contributions is an opportunity to right-size expectations of the United States and move forward with Congress, the U.N., and international partners on the same page. Build support for regional organizations like the AU to access U.N. funding for peace operations: Regional organizations, particularly the AU, have shown leadership and willingness to combat extremist and terrorist groups (e.g., in Somalia and the Sahel) and deploy troops to halt ongoing atrocities (e.g., Central African Republic in 2014)—situations for which U.N. peacekeeping is ill-equipped. Yet regional organizations lack the necessary funding and logistical capacity to sustain these deployments and must constantly solicit money and other resources from individual member states, despite the positive progress made by AU reforms and the establishment of the AU’s Peace Fund. The United States has been generous in cobbling together ad hoc financial and logistical support for regionally led operations, but without consistent funding, regional bodies will struggle to keep forces on the ground paid and adequately equipped (and therefore motivated) to take on well-armed belligerents. The United States could signal support by appointing a senior diplomat to secure buy-in from other UNSC members and the AU for a related Security Council resolution, one that commits to providing sustained financing to support regionally led operations, assuming they meet a set of agreed conditions. Equip U.N. peacekeepers to fulfill their mandates in a counterterrorism or counterinsurgency context: While regional organizations and ad hoc regional coalitions like the G5 Sahel have stepped up to take on violent extremists and terrorist organizations, the Security Council has also mandated blue-helmeted troops to conduct offensive military operations against insurgents in the DRC and to work alongside French and regional forces fighting terrorist groups in Mali. Indeed, most new peacekeeping deployments are in active conflict zones, where peacekeepers are themselves frequently targeted by armed groups. Yet the debate between member states around whether and how the U.N. should operate in these contexts is unresolved, leading to ad hoc experiments (e.g., the Force Intervention Brigade within the DRC mission) or reducing blue helmets to cannon fodder (e.g., in Mali and the Central African Republic). The bottom line is that U.N. forces are consistently unable to protect themselves, much less protect civilians or support peacebuilding efforts in active conflict zones. The United States could work with DPO to anticipate when a surge is needed to manage a potentially destabilizing moment (e.g., in the run-up to a contentious election) and plan accordingly. Better align and resource political and peacekeeping functions: Despite the deficit between what U.N. peacekeepers have and what they need, DPO is relatively privileged within the U.N. system—assuming member states pay their dues, funding is guaranteed. That is not the case for U.N. Special Political Missions, designed to support peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery, which rely on voluntary contributions. Restoring political stability to societies ravaged by violence is a long and arduous process, and Special Political Missions have played a pivotal role in helping countries like Sierra Leone, Colombia, and Timor-Leste successfully manage these transitions. The United States could use its Security Council Presidency in March 2021 or July 2022 to lead a discussion over how to ensure these missions are adequately and sustainably funded, including through the possible use of assessed contributions. U.S. leadership was critical to the success of peacekeeping summits in 2014 and 2015, but that support has waned. South Korea will hold a ministerial-level peacekeeping summit in December 2021, and the United States could signal a recommitment to strengthen current and future missions by sending a Cabinet-level official to lead its delegation.