Editing Peacekeeping (section)

===Lack of engagement with the populace===
A growing critique of peacekeeping is the lack of engagement between the peacekeeping officials and the local populace. As [[Séverine Autesserre]] outlines in a 2015 Foreign Policy article,<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/06/trouble-in-peaceland-united-nations-congo-development/|title=Trouble in Peaceland|last=Autesserre|first=Severine|website=Foreign Policy|date=October 6, 2015 }}</ref> this creates an environment where the peacekeeping officials develop plans to 'keep' the peace, but they are disconnected from reality, having the opposite effect on the ground. Additionally, it creates a reinforcement mechanism for the peacekeeping officials, because the officials on the ground report that their plan was successfully implemented, but, in reality, it had adverse effects. If the situation on the ground turns into another outbreak of violence, the local populace will be blamed.<ref name=":7" />

This criticism is similar to the critic levelled at development in developing countries by authors such as James C. Scott,<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|title=Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed|url=https://archive.org/details/seeinglikestateh00scot|url-access=limited|last=Scott|first=James C.|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1998|location=New Haven|pages=[https://archive.org/details/seeinglikestateh00scot/page/n17 1]–10|isbn=9780300078152}}</ref> James Ferguson, and L. Lohman.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ferguson|last2=Lohman|first1=James|first2=L|date=1994|title=The anti-politics machine: 'development' and bureaucratic power in Lesotho.|journal=The Ecologist|volume=24}}</ref> Although peacekeeping and development are two different things, the logic behind the criticism is the same. The third-party officials-whether they are peacekeepers or agents of development-are isolated from the general populace, believing they know what is best, and refusing to gather information from a ground level. This is not out of maliciousness or imperialism, but out of a legitimate belief that they, as educated officials with access to other experts and who are well versed in development and peacekeeping literature, know what is best.<ref name=":8" />