United Nations peacekeeping is a major avenue through which 'small' states participate in and contribute to the maintenance of global peace and security. Bangladesh is no exception to this. Although a variety of domestic issues such as weak political structures and economic pressures continue to pose critical challenges to Bangladesh, they have not deterred the nation from fulfilling its global responsibilities. The strength of Bangladesh's commitment to peacekeeping can be seen in its readiness to make large, varied and sizeable troop commitments. However, Bangladesh's 'staying power' in terms of its ability to sustain the commitment in complex and dangerous mission areas has varied across UN peacekeeping operations. While Bangladesh continues to participate actively in UN peacekeeping with a view to enhancing global image, as part of its strategy for attracting greater economic assistance and foreign investment, it is confronted by critical challenges that significantly hamper its ability to perform in UN peace operations.
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Bangladesh is not only a small state but also a nation that is constantly bedevilled by its own internal problems relating to politics, economy and development. Due to its weak structural bases and limited capacities Bangladesh has mostly relied on the goodwill of the international community for foreign aid and economic assistance. Despite its severe domestic challenges the country has been making a positive impression on the world stage through its efforts in maintaining international peace and security. Nowhere has this been manifested more than in the field of UN peacekeeping operations.
Bangladesh is a relative newcomer to UN peacekeeping. Seventeen years after independence, following an internal arms struggle in 1988, Dhaka consented to deploy 31 unarmed military observers as part of the UN Iran--Iraq Military Observer Group (UNIIMOG) to supervise and monitor the ceasefire between the two nations. Following this, in 1989, Bangladesh participated in the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia, to which it sent a team of 25 military observers.
Since its debut in the late 1980s, Bangladesh has been participating actively in UN peacekeeping operations (see Appendix). Bangladesh's frequency of participation in external UN missions is quite remarkable. Since 1988 the country has made sizeable troop commitments in a total of 31 UN peace missions worldwide. This is significant when compared with India, which has contributed to only slightly more missions (36) and has been participating in UN peace operations for more than 50 years. Bangladesh's frequency of participation is also greater than some other new peacekeepers from the Third World. Countries like Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe are some of these newcomers. However, their frequency of participation has been very low, participating in six, two and eight peace operations respectively since 1989. (1)
The central purpose of this article is twofold. First, it aims to demonstrate Bangladesh's strong commitment to UN peacekeeping by examining the size of its participation in UN peacekeeping and the nature of its troop contribution. To this end, it is argued that while Bangladesh readily makes large and sizeable troop commitments, the nation's ability to sustain the commitment in complex and dangerous mission areas has varied across UN peacekeeping operations. The second purpose is to examine the reasons for Bangladesh's active involvement in UN peace operations. The key point here is that while Bangladesh continues to participate actively in UN peacekeeping with a view to enhancing its global image, as part of its overall strategy of attracting greater economic assistance and foreign investment, it is confronted by critical challenges that significantly weaken its peacekeeping capacity.
The discussion begins with an examination of the features that define Bangladesh as a 'small' state. This is to provide the context for understanding Bangladesh's approach to peacekeeping as part of it overall foreign policy behaviour.
BANGLADESH AS A SMALL STATE
The term 'small state' is a relative concept and applies largely to the Third World. One cannot determine precisely how small a small state is, but two broad indicators have emerged for identifying and defining small states. (2) The first relates to 'small' in terms of the basic aggregate variables such as size of territory and population, GNP, productive capability, resources base, military budget and so on. The second indicator relates to military, economic, technological and industrial capacities. Some scholars focus on just one of these capacities, military capability and define small states as those that have a relatively low conventional military capability.
Bangladesh can be regarded as a small state based on a number of factors, which play a critical role in shaping the nation's foreign policy outlook. The size and geographical location of Bangladesh is at the top of the list. As one scholar writes, 'the tyranny of geography is the most important factor in the defence-vulnerability of small states'. (3) Indeed, Bangladesh is encircled by India, with which it shares three borders north, east and west. In fact, India, which occupies 72 per cent of the entire subcontinent, has been a major security concern for most South Asian states: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. India's regional ambitions have been a major concern for Bangladesh, given its geographical location and India's history of occupation and annexation of small territories in the sub-continent. India's occupation of Kashmir in 1947-49 and of Junagath and Hyderabad at the same time, its efforts in liberating Goa in 1961-62 and its annexation of Sikkim in 1975, generated growing fears that India might also 'swallow up' Bangladesh in the future. Moreover, Bangladesh's defence and military capacities are too small for it to protect itself from such threats. In 1999, Bangladesh's defence expenditure was only $619 million compared to India's $10.7 billion. (4) While India has been ranked sixteenth in terms of quantitative war capability worldwide, Bangladesh has been ranked sixty-second. While India emerges as the fourth largest army in the world, its military capacity has been further demonstrated by producing nuclear bombs. In 1998, India was the sixth state to explode a nuclear bomb, at Pokhran. Bangladesh's sense of insecurity stemming from its geographical location, size and military strength has played a significant role in shaping its foreign policy outlook.
Another concern for Bangladesh as a small state is its limited economic growth and development. Internally, Bangladesh is constantly troubled by severe domestic problems caused by under-development and economic insecurity. The country ranks very low in human resource development, measured by indicators such as literacy, health and nutrition. In terms of human development and per capita GNP, more than 46.5 per cent of Bangladesh's 130 million population live below the poverty line. While these concerns characterise Bangladesh's status as a small state, they also set the context in which its foreign policy operates.
It is argued that in international relations, small states are motivated by a 'preference for diplomacy and organisations'. (5) Bangladesh is no exception to this. It pursues a 'forward looking' (6) foreign policy with a view to increasing international support for its internal recovery by way of foreign aid and investment. This forward-looking approach partly includes the pursuit of multilateral diplomacy. At the global level, Bangladesh has taken a very active approach to multilateral diplomacy. One example is its links with the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Bangladesh has been working on strengthening economic links and Islamic markets within the OIC. For example, at the Islamic Summit in 2000 held in Qatar, Bangladesh pledged to further co-operate and strengthen the Islamic common market on the basis of Islamic solidarity. (7) Bangladesh has jointly proposed increasing intra-trade in the Islamic Development Bank by three per cent in 1999-2001. At the 2000 Islamic Summit, Bangladesh also nominated itself as a candidate for the post of OIC Secretary-General. This shows the level and extent of Bangladesh's interest in increasing its presence in the Muslim world and also enhancing its image among its Islamic counterparts.
As part of this pattern of developing multilateral relations, Bangladesh has become increasingly involved in the affairs of the United Nations. Although Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, this involvement did not begin until it was formally admitted as a member state of the UN. The Soviet Union, which had supported India and provided military and economic support to Bangladesh during the 1971 liberation war, was quick to endorse the creation of Bangladesh. Conversely, China, which had confrontations with India over border issues, supported Pakistan's reluctance to acknowledge the independence of Bangladesh. Being a permanent member of the Security Council, China opposed India's claims that Bangladesh is now a sovereign state and a separate state from Pakistan. (8) Moreover, the Chinese delegation opposed the Indian, Soviet and Yugoslavian demand for Bangladesh's admission to the United Nations. China vetoed Bangladesh's application for admission into the UN and tabled a draft resolution that the Security Council should defer the application until India adhered to and implemented the UN resolutions relating to the withdrawal of all Indian troops from Bangladesh and also the repatriation of Pakistani prisoners of war. It was this deadlock within the UN Security Council that delayed Bangladesh's entry into the UN.
In September 1974, Bangladesh became the 136th member state of the UN and it was this admission that marked the beginning of Bangladesh's active …
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