Pursuing human security through Developmental Peace Missions

For a large part of the international community, the name ‘Africa’, conjures up two very distinct and different images. On the one hand, the name is reminiscent of an age-old ‘mother continent’, imbued with vast resources and a rich, multi-faceted cultural heritage. On the other hand, there is the Africa of intra-state wars, protracted conflict, poverty, disease and infinite suffering – the potential abundance in stark juxtaposition to the severe shortages and limitations experienced by the majority of inhabitants of the African continent. The conception of Developmental Peace Missions was created to find a workable solution to establishing sustainable levels of human security. The work explores the feasibility of the concept Developmental Peace Missions and assesses the utility of the concept itself as a means to pursue sustainable levels of human security through a combination of peacekeeping interventions. It seeks to answer the question whether DPMs is an ambitious construct or feasible ideal and whether DPMs could be effectively applied during peace missions.