Review by Choice Review
Most studies look at the impact of peacekeepers on the conflict at hand, but what effects does peacekeeping service have on the soldiers and national militaries from whence they come? Does peacekeeping help transform the military structures and global outlooks of the states that contribute to peacekeeping operations? This careful study examines the experiences of three South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay), giving special attention to their participation in the peace operations in Haiti. The results were decidedly mixed. Sotomayor (Naval Postgraduate School) concludes that expectations from two leading international relations theories--neorealism and liberalism--are not fulfilled. This is one of the few studies on the impact of peacekeeping on democratizing states and civil-military relations. Nevertheless, the lack of survey data (acknowledged by the author) limits his ability to chart systematic attitudinal change. Furthermore, perhaps it is not surprising that given the very small numbers of soldiers contributed to peacekeeping operations and the relative unimportance of the mission to national militaries and government, the hypothesized impacts were probably overstated at the outset. Summing Up: Recommended. Research and professional collections. P. F. Diehl University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
