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January 01 2003

Cross‐Cultural Considerations in Complex Peace Operations

Robert A. Rubinstein

Robert A. Rubinstein

Robert A. Rubinstein is Professor of Anthropology and of International Relations and Senior Research Associate of the Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute at The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, 410 Maxwell Hall, Syracuse, N.Y. 13244. He also serves as director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts (PARC) at Syracuse University. Email: [email protected]

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Author and Article Information

Robert A. Rubinstein

Robert A. Rubinstein is Professor of Anthropology and of International Relations and Senior Research Associate of the Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute at The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, 410 Maxwell Hall, Syracuse, N.Y. 13244. He also serves as director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts (PARC) at Syracuse University. Email: [email protected]

First Publication: July 02 2007

Online ISSN: 1571-9979

Print ISSN: 0748-4526

© 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

2003

Plenum Publishing Corporation

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the use is non-commercial and the original work is properly cited. For a full description of the license, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.

Negotiation Journal (2003) 19 (1): 29–49.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1571-9979.2003.tb00278.x

Abstract

Peace operations create the potential for culturally‐based problems in interactions among different organizational actors and with local populations. Because it is impossible to catalog all of the different groups and cultures that may participate in peace operations, it is necessary to develop a general approach to culture and peacekeeping. The author presents a view of culture as a model for understanding and action, and describes some ways in which cultural models are manifest. Specific cultural differences between military and humanitarian participants in peace operations are discussed, as are areas of potential cultural concern for interaction with local populations. Suggestions about approaching these cross‐cultural considerations are offered.

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© 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

2003

Plenum Publishing Corporation

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the use is non-commercial and the original work is properly cited. For a full description of the license, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.