Peacekeeping Forces and International Finance Institutions

Peacekeeping forces and IFIs are both manifestations of liberal international relations theory at work in the international system. They are two of the ways in which countries attempt to cooperate in hopes of improving every state’s situation, an idea that contrasts greatly with the realist’s “every-state-for-itself” view of state interaction in the international system.  

Although the connection between peacekeeping forces and international finance institutions may seem obscure, they have much in common. Both are methods by which the powers of the developed world intervene in the affairs of other states (supposedly) for their benefit. Because the main recipients of both peacekeeping forces and loans from international finance institutions are states from the developing sector, they receive much criticism from those who say that such methods are simply means by which developed states gain more control over developing states. Indeed, both entities put much leverage in the hands of developed states: in one case, the state has its own militant force within the country’s borders, and in the other, the developing state becomes and most often remains indebted to its donors. For these reasons (and several others), many see the motives of the developed world in each situation as questionable.

With such criticism of the international effort to improve the quality of life in developing states, one may wonder just what it would take for the situation in such areas to be remedied, and how that would occur. It is hard for one to demand a purely moral approach from developed states when providing foreign aid, because no state or individual will act without incentive to do so. It is only logical that if the developed world were to give the developed world a “leg-up,” then it should be on its own terms. Many refute this, saying that it is the developed sector that rendered these countries poor and corrupt in the first place. Yet, this statement does not change the fact that developing states need the contributions of the developed world to grow and become lucrative. Thus, the implementation of peacekeeping missions and IFIs as forms of international intervention remains an ever-controversial issue in contemporary world affairs.