UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)

Arthur Boutellis is a Non-resident Senior Adviser at the International Peace Institute (IPI) and teaches at graduate-level at Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris. He previously worked with the UN in New York, Jerusalem, Burundi, Chad and the Central African Republic, Haiti, and Mali.

• Introduction.- 1. MINUSMA First Act (2013-2015): “multilateralizing” a French-African intervention and becoming the actor of an imposed peace?.- 2. MINUSMA Act Two (2016-2019): The seeds of divisions and a France-US divide over the very relevance of UN peacekeeping in a terrorist environment.- 3. MINUSMA Act Three (2020-2023): The return of the East-West divide and the road to the withdrawal of the host country consent.- 4. Lessons from MINUSMA for UN peace operations in a post-liberal international order.- 5. The return of power rivalries and the future of UN peace operations.- Conclusion.

“Arthur Boutellis provides a convincing account of how geopolitical influences affect a specific operation, both in its foundations as well as in everyday activities. … Boutellis combines two strands of research that often run in parallel: geopolitics at the Security Council and local dynamics in UN peace operations. This provides a fresh perspective on how dynamics at UN headquarters influence a peace operation not only in general, but also specifically in its work on the ground.” (David Teiner, International Peacekeeping, April 1, 2025)