The UN has been accused of hypocrisy — failing to act in accordance
with the ideals it espouses — in post-Cold War peacekeeping missions.
This article argues that such inconsistency can arise from ‘organized
hypocrisy’, a phenomenon identified by organization theorists in which
organizations respond to conflicting pressures in external environments
through contradictory actions and statements. Organized hypocrisy
may have both positive and negative effects on peacekeeping. On the
one hand, it may produce or exacerbate gaps between commitments
and resources, undermine reforms if they are decoupled from practice,
and impede efforts to mitigate harmful peacekeeping externalities. On
the other hand, organized hypocrisy may enable the UN, or regional
organizations, to manage irreconcilable pressures that might otherwise
render the organization incapable of effective action and threaten its
survival. This article explains and develops the concept of organized
hypocrisy, and apples it to post-Cold War peace operations.
