Implementation of republican peace-building measures in Central African Republic under MINUSCA from 2014 to 2020

Abstract

The Central African Republic (CAR) has been in a state of internal conflict for the past 11 years, and the United Nations has been trying to restore peace and stability to this country for almost as long. However, the multilateral peacekeeping operation responsible for this duty – MINUSCA has not been successful in establishing a sustainable peace and stability. This research will attempt to explain this issue, by answering the question of “why did MINUSCA fail to promote sustainable peace and prevent conflict resurgence in CAR during their deployment period?” The research will focus on the timeframe of 2014 to 2020, as numerous important events occurred in this period – from the official establishment of MINUSCA to the ratification of peace agreement that involve (most) of the rebel militia factions in the country. Michael Barnett’s Republican Democratic perspective on state-centered, legitimacy-based peacebuilding will be the main framework for this research. This research has discovered that MINUSCA’s unsuccessful attempt for peacebuilding was caused by lack of deliberation, representation, and constitutionalized policies on the national level, despite significant progress on the ground-level initiatives. Lack of national identity, limited government capacity, and general election amidst low public confidence was the compounding factor that leads to the resurgence of violence.