Commitment, the Crucible of Peace Agreements : Quantitative study on how providing for peacekeeping operations affects the duration of peace agreements in intra-state conflicts

Abstract: Recurring conflicts are a common occurrence as most contemporary intra-state conflicts are recured old conflicts. This is the reality within peace and conflicts studies and a well studied phenomenon. Yet despite deaced of reserach, there still exist subjects wihtin the construction n of peace agreements that have not been studied that might reduce the recurrence of conflict. This thesis explores the effect of providing for a peacekeeping operation within a peace agreement. Based on theories of credible commitment the proposed hypothesis is that peace agreements that provide for a peacekeeping operation are mot durable than those that do not. Using the Uppsala Conflict Data Programs (UCDP) peace agreement dataset, which records peace agreements from 1975 to 2021, a quantitative study will be performed. A bivariable and multivariable regression as well as a T-test and Hazard-test will be used to explore this relationship. The hypothesis does not find support wihtin the statistical evidence that providing for a peacekeeping operation affects the duration of the agreement. However, the thesis still finds important implications for the construction of peace agreements.