- Group One corresponds to countries without armies: Andorra, Costa Rica, Dominica, Grenada, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Panama, Saint Lucia, San Marino, Saint Vincent, and Tuvalu. The special cases are: Kiribati, Micronesia and Palau.
Group One corresponds to countries without armies/defence forces. Does the fact that they do not have defence forces imply that they cannot contribute troops? Not necessarily, as is seen by the special cases (Kiribati, Micronesia and Palau). In order to obtain the conclusions for this section of the research, each one of the variables of the data collection process was analyzed. Then, it was discovered that two main groups exist: the European micro-states and the small island states. The European micro-states do not contribute troops because they can afford to not send troops, instead they provide financial contributions. But in the case of the small island states, the fact that they do not have armies is not the most important condition for not contributing troops. Factors such as the domestic political and economic environment, foreign policy, and climate change play a prominent role in the willingness to send troops.
In the case of the small island states, the countries which have reached consensus on all those factors need to seek a “path” to send troops, taking into consideration that the country itself cannot provide them because technically there are no troops. Due to the technicality that they do not have troops, the “path” is seeking employment as peacekeepers.
There is also another “path” but it is not for contributing troops. This path is providing financial contribution, but it is chosen by European micro-states only. While seeking employment is the “path” chosen by less developed countries. This consists of seeking employment for its citizens as peacekeepers working for countries which have defence forces and an active participation in UN peacekeeping operations, for example Australia and New Zealand (which are the employers).
In the case of UN/UN peacekeeping policy reform, countries in this group tend to have a relatively active participation in UN reform, but less in DPKO reform, despite the fact that many of the countries from this group became part of the UN within the last 20 years. They are more focused on economic development and climate change and how it affects rising oceans, because many of them are small islands. Thus, they have created the Organization of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and in the case of the European micro-states, the United Nations Organization of Small European States (UNOSES).
With regards to the perception of peacekeeping, the concept has a positive perception among all the countries. The European micro-states have created an organization called UNOSES (Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Saint-Marino) to provide financial support for development projects in Africa. Also, nearly all the Pacific islands in the group have provided support (no troops) to the Regional Assistance Mission in the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). In the case of the Caribbean states, they also have a positive perception. But their involvement is less than the rest of the countries in this group.
With regards to the domestic political environment, all the countries have stable governments. There are no threats for civil unrest, invasions, and other type of man-made disasters. For the countries from the Pacific and the Caribbean, their political agendas are focused on economic development, increasing awareness of climate change and strengthening their politic institutions. They are concerned about natural disasters. For the European micro-states, their agendas rely on economic and financial issues.
With regards to the domestic economic environment, the European micro-states are not concerned about their economic development, in comparison to the small island states. Many of the small island states have weak economies and their territories are not rich in natural resources. As a result, each country has a time line in which they need to diversify their economies, before it is too late. Most of them depend on international aid, and eventually, it will reach an end. Also, some of the Caribbean states have designed their economies on the production of a few products (such as the banana) that could boom the economy or leave it in bad shape, due to international supply and demand factors.
As a result, many of the countries have acknowledged the time line and have started to diversify their economies. One way of doing this is seeking employment for its citizens as peacekeepers.
With regards to the military affairs, none of the countries own defence forces, and normally, other countries have bilateral agreements with them to guarantee their defence. Thus, this variable is not relevant for this group.
With regards to foreign policy, their foreign policies are represented in the international organizations they all have created. The Pacific and Caribbean small island states created the organization SIDS advocating issues of international development and climate change; and the European micro states UNOSES, which has financed the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS’ (UNAIDS) projects for children in Gabon (UN-Monaco 2006a, par. 3). They have contributed with $280,000 dollars (Ibid.).
With regards to climate change, this is one of the most important variables that determines the willingness to send troops. Climate change’s effects on raising oceans and in natural disasters (hurricanes) made this variable one of the most important ones for the Pacific and Caribbean states. On the other hand, while the European micro-states support initiatives of this kind, they have not “adopted” them as part of the main issues of their national political agendas. Further, a new concept, environmental refugees, has been created. David Adam (2005) stated that “this new category of refugee needs to find a place in international agreements and we need to better anticipate support requirements, similar to those of people fleeing other unviable situations” (2005, par. 1).
The rest of the variables of the data collection process have no significant impact on the willingness to send troops to UN peace operations: 1) Independent negotiations taken by DPKO to seek troops, 2) Independent negotiations taken by contributor countries to engage non-contributor countries, and 3) Meetings organized by other international organizations to engage in dialogue about peacekeeping.
Thus, technically, they do not send troops because they do not have them. Nevertheless, participating in UN peace operations brings benefits for the Pacific and Caribbean countries, as well as the European micro-states. For the small islands, the benefits are financial, it brings extra income to their economies and decreases the unemployment rate due to the fact that their economies are weak, and need to be diversified. Most of the countries have not started to follow this option. But eventually, if the countries do not meet the requirements of their own time lines, they might have to consider the possibility of seeking employment for their citizens as peacekeepers. In the case of the European micro-states, they do not have the need to seek employment for their citizens. Thus, they have focused on providing financial contributions to UN peace operations, while they also finance specific projects in places like Africa.
