Where once the presence of United Nations peacekeepers on the ground signalled that conflict was at an end, their role has become ever more militarized, says James Sloan.

“The benefits of having peacekeepers charged with protecting civilians and restoring security seem clear,” he says. “But can peacekeeping successfully assume these functions without fundamentally changing its very nature, thereby damaging the endeavour?”

A professor of international law at the University of Glasgow, he will address this question, using the operation in Darfur as a case study, in a free public lecture Wednesday, October 7.

Prior to joining academia, Sloan practiced in the international law field, working for the United Nations and international human rights non-governmental organizations. He published a monograph entitled “The Militarisation of Peacekeeping in the Twenty-First Century” in 2011.

His UWindsor presentation is sponsored by the Transnational Law and Justice Network and will begin at noon in the Farmer Conference Room, Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.