The transformative impact of unarmed civilian peacekeeping

Civilians, working together, and using nonviolence to protect themselves and others from direct violence, challenges widespread assumptions that peace and protection can only be delivered by the military and with the threat of force. Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping (UCP), with 35 years of evidence from projects worldwide, demonstrates that the assumption that an armed actor will not yield to anything except a weapon is false, therefore challenging the exclusive role of military in peacekeeping. In this paper we argue that i) by conceptualising UCP as part of peacekeeping we provide new insights into the approaches and mechanisms for preventing violence, ii) by exploring its relationship with nonviolence theory we can present it’s transformative capacity. Whilst the use of the military and a threat of violence is seen as a norm in security and protection, this paper uses evidence from the practice of UCP from the organisations involved (including Peace Brigades International and Nonviolent Peaceforce) to set out how we can create different approaches to peacekeeping