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.

“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)

• 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.