What do we mean by modular approaches to UN peace operations?

Building blocks versus networked operations

Talk of modular approaches to peace operations is in the air. Modular approaches have been invoked several times in recent Security Council debates, but often without much precision on what modular peace operations would look like and how they would function. As modular approaches are usually invoked by individuals dissatisfied with existing approaches to peacekeeping operations and special political missions (as well as non-UN forces and UN support offices), the use of these references can be understood as rhetorical shorthand for frustration with the status quo in peace operations.

The review of peace operations provides an opportunity to move beyond rhetoric and to actually examine how modular approaches could be put into practice. In fact, there are two very different concepts that have been described as modular approaches, one that focuses on modularity in mission design (a “building blocks” concept) and one that focuses on modularity in mandate implementation (a “networked” concept). It’s worth unpacking both of these approaches so that Member States and the Secretariat have a better understanding of what each of these entails so they can decide which—if either—to pursue for peace operations in the future.