About the Author: Notes:
Karen Finkenbinder, Ph.D. is the Rule of Law, Justice and Rec-
onciliation Advisor at the Peacekeeping and Stability Opera-
tions Institute (PKSOI), at the Army War College, in Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A. While at PKSOI, she teaches peacekeep-
ing to senior military leaders, has served on many USG, bilateral
and multilateral exercises, boards and workgroups as a peace-
keeping and stabilization expert, and contributes to concept and
policy development and operational projects. She serves as the
U.S. expert for Community Policing to the United Nations and
recently spent a year in Hanoi, Vietnam working with the Viet-
nam Ministry of National Defense Peacekeeping Center as the
Professor of Peacekeeping. In addition to her federal experience
at the Army War College, Dr. Finkenbinder teaches at Pennsyl-
vania State University and Shippensburg University. 1
Dr. Finkenbinder’ s applied background includes a career in
civilian policing as the Director of Training for a state law
enforcement agency and as an Education and Training Spe-
cialist for the Pennsylvania State Police as well as at the local
level, where she served several years as a municipal police officer
leaving as a patrol sergeant to finish her doctorate. She has more
than ten years as a police trainer for recruits and veteran officers
at various police academies. She has often been called to testify
or make presentations on criminal justice training, operations,
policy and emergency management issues to the Legislature,
courts, police executive organizations, and other bodies.
Pruitt, Lesley J. (2016). The Women in Blue Helmets: Gender,
Policing, and the UN’s First All-Female Peacekeeping Unit,
University of California Press: Oakland, CA., 1.
2
Ibid, 8.
3
Ibid, 8.
4
Ibid, 17; United Nations, Department of Peacekeeping Op-
erations, Department of Field Support, Ref. 2016.10 (2017),
Formed Police Units in United Nations Peacekeeping Opera-
tions, USG DPKO: New York.
5
Pruitt, Ibid, 40.
6
India has been one of the top peacekeeping contributing
nations for many years and today it the 4th largest contributor
with about 600 police and 6,000 military troops.
7
Pruitt, Ibid, 51.
8
Tickner, J.Ann (2014). A Feminist Voyage through Interna-
tional Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press as quoted in
Pruitt, Ibid, 51.
9
Pruitt, Ibid, 52.
10
Pruitt, Ibid, 59.
11
Law enforcement is one function of police – arrest. Prob-
lem-oriented policing attempts to get at the root cause(s) of
crime and mitigate the cause(s). Doing it well requires under-
standing the culture and the context of the problem through a
local lens. Intervenors often do not understand what the real
issues are – this is one reason why community involvement is
crucial to success. If intervenors do not understand the prob-
lem, their proposed solutions will likely fail.
12
Pruitt, Ibid, 60.
13
Pruitt, Ibid, 62.
14
Pruitt, Ibid, 66.
15
Pruitt, Ibid, 71.
16
Pruitt, Ibid, 85.
17
Pruitt, Ibid, 85.
18
Pruitt, Ibid, 91.
19
Pruitt, Ibid 101.
20
Blue tape are the bureaucratic requirements placed upon po-
lice in peacekeeping (usually time in service that fail to account
for unique qualifications) and that recruitment and deployment
strategies focus on independent men with no family responsibil-
ities.
21
Some of the added challenges and expectations include ab-
sence of social support when deployed in mixed units as women
are often few and far between and as such often internalize
a more masculine approach. Women have reported having
restricted duties in operations just because they are women.
And some scholars are critical because it promotes the view that
women must work with women and are not fully capable.
42