The Foundations of a Research Agenda

What is the legacy of UN multidimensional peacekeeping for 'peacekept' states and, more specifically, what implications does the closure of peacekeeping operations have for the capacity of peacekept states to perform their core functions? Taken together, the essays in this forum shed light on these important questions from a variety of perspectives. More broadly, they underline the importance of charting the vicissitudes of states that have been, but are no longer, host to multidimensional peacekeeping operations. It may then be possible to establish what responsibility these operations and their closure may bear for the trajectories (positive and negative) of these states in the years following UN peacekeeping withdrawal. While highlighting the importance of studying peacekeeping legacies, these essays also draw attention to the methodological difficulties of exploring these questions. The nature of such difficulties is manifold. This concluding essay will provide a brief overview of the principal challenges and suggest how they may be overcome - partially at least - with an eye towards laying the foundations for a feasible research agenda.