Editing Peacekeeping (section)

== Impacts of peacekeeping on participating forces ==

===Military normalisation===
Some commentators have highlighted the potential to leverage peacekeeping operations as a mechanism for advancing military normalisation. Michael Edward Walsh and Jeremy Taylor have argued that [[Japan]]'s peacekeeping operations in [[South Sudan]] provide those promoting Japan's military normalisation with "a unique opportunity to further erode the country's pacifist constitution."<ref name="nbr.org">Jeremy Taylor and Michael Edward Walsh (January 7, 2014), ''[http://www.nbr.org/downloads/pdfs/psa/taylor-walsh_commentary_010714.pdf UN Operations in Africa Provide a Mechanism for Japan’s Military Normalization Agenda]'', retrieved February 7, 2014</ref> "Unable to accept the full weight of modern peacekeeping operations without fundamental political, legal, and social changes," they conclude that "Japan's peacekeepers remain ill-prepared to tackle many serious contingencies requiring use of deadly force."<ref>Michael Edward Walsh and Jeremy Taylor (December 23, 2013), ''[http://africanarguments.org/2013/12/23/time-to-reconsider-the-japanese-peacekeeping-mission-in-south-sudan-by-michael-edward-walsh-jeremy-taylor/ Time to Reconsider the Japanese Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan]'', retrieved February 7, 2014</ref> For this reason, they suggest that Japan's continued participation in UN peacekeeping operations might force policy changes that ultimately push the country toward "a tipping point from which the normalisation of Japan's military (will be) the only outcome."<ref name="nbr.org"/>

===Political impact on sending countries===
[[Diana Muir|Diana Muir Appelbaum]] has expressed concern that the creation of a military in [[Fiji]] for the purpose of serving in international peacekeeping missions, has produced a military powerful enough to stage four coups d'état (1987, 1999–2000, 2006, and 2009) and to rule Fiji as a military dictatorship for over two decades.<ref>Appelbaum, Diana Muir (August 27, 2012), ''[http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/4867/features/how-the-sinai-peacekeeping-force-staged-a-military-coup-in-fiji/ How the Sinai Peacekeeping Force Staged a Military Coup in Fiji]'', retrieved September 7, 2012</ref> However, a 2018 study published in the ''Journal of Peace Research'' found that countries where militaries are highly dependent on the funds they receive from UN peacekeeping were less likely to experience coups d'états than comparable countries less dependent on such funds.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lundgren|first=Magnus|date=2018|title=Backdoor peacekeeping: Does participation in UN peacekeeping reduce coups at home?|journal=Journal of Peace Research|volume=55|issue=4|pages=508–523|doi=10.1177/0022343317747668|s2cid=116168984}}</ref>

===Impacts on individual peacekeepers ===
[[File:UNAMIR Blue Berets memorial Kigali (4).jpg|thumb|Memorial in [[Kigali]], Rwanda, to ten Belgian peacekeepers of [[UNAMIR]] who were massacred by Hutu paramilitaries in 1994]]
Studies of peacekeeping soldiers show both positive and negative effects. A study of 951 US Army soldiers assigned to Bosnia revealed that 77% reported some positive consequences, 63% reported a negative consequence, and 47% reported both.<ref>Newby, John H., et al. "Positive and negative consequences of a military deployment." ''Military Medicine'' (2005) 170#10 pp: 815-819</ref>  The peacekeepers are exposed to danger caused by the warring parties and often in an unfamiliar climate. This gives rise to different mental health problems, suicide, and substance abuse as shown by the percentage of former peacekeepers with those problems. Having a parent in a mission abroad for an extended period is also stressful to the peacekeepers' families.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Fernandes Souza | first1 = Wanderson |display-authors=etal  | year = 2011 | title = Posttraumatic stress disorder in peacekeepers: a meta-analysis | journal = The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease | volume = 199 | issue = 5| pages = 309–312 | doi=10.1097/nmd.0b013e3182175180| pmid = 21543949 | s2cid = 28713512 }}</ref>

Another viewpoint raises the problem that the peacekeeping may soften the troops and erode their combat ability, as the mission profile of a peacekeeping contingent is totally different from the profile of a unit fighting an all-out war.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070926001502/http://www.usafa.af.mil/jscope/ISME2007/Papers/Prof%20Paulin%20Kaurin%20War%20Stories.doc Kaurin, P. M. (2007) War Stories: Narrative, Identity and (Recasting) Military Ethics Pedagogy. Pacific Lutheran University. ISME 2007. Retrieved 9-3-2007]</ref><ref>Liu, H. C. K., The war that could destroy both armies, ''Asia Times'', October 23, 2003. Retrieved March 9, 2007.</ref>