By providing a secure environment, UN peacekeepers may facilitate the functioning of domestic institutions, who could reap the reputational benefit of working with the UN. However, Di Salvatore posits that attribution problems and reputational costs counter the positive impact of UN’s capacity-building efforts. Her research focuses on the case of the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) exploiting Afrobarometer’s geocoded surveys before and after deployment, combined with subnational deployment data. The research provides insights on how international interventions affect an understudied aspect of state-building – i.e. the legitimacy of institutions they are expected to assist.

About the speaker

Jessica Di Salvatore is Associate Professor in Political Science in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Florence (Italy). Until 2024, she was Associate Professor in Peace Studies at the University of Warwick (UK). Previously, she was British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford (Department of Politics and International Relations), and associate member at the Nuffield College. She received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam (2017), and an MSc in Conflict Resolution from the University of Essex (2013).

​The core of her current research agenda concerns the political, economic and social impact of UN peace operations and their contribution to state-building and post-conflict development.