In spite of a vibrant debate about the genesis, logic and effects of peace operations, peace research remains poorly equipped to account for how policies are implemented and ‘translated into practice’ – issues that have been the focus in implementation studies for nearly five decades. In response, we propose a merger of certain strands of peace research with bottom-up implementation studies, which forefronts the role of ‘implementing actors’, namely, those actors who are granted the discretionary powers to carry out policies in their daily encounter with local counterparts on the ground. Through a case study of peace operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we show that successful policy implementation depends on that field-based implementing actors are provided with discretionary powers to use their skill, judgement and local knowledge to solve problems and ensure implementation of peace operations on the ground. There is a need for a paradigm change within peace research in order to account for these findings. Better understanding of the daily work carried out by implementing actors in the field makes it possible to avoid many of the pitfalls and shortcomings we have witnessed through several decades of flawed or even devastating peace operations such as the one in DRC.

尽管对和平行动的起源、逻辑和影响进行了激烈的辩论，但和平研究仍然缺乏能力来解释政策如何实施和“转化为实践”——这些问题在近五年来一直是实施研究的重点。作为回应，我们建议将某些和平研究与自下而上的实施研究合并，这将“实施行动者”的作用放在首位，即那些被授予在日常与当地接触中执行政策的自由裁量权的行动者。地面上的同行。通过对刚果民主共和国 (DRC) 和平行动的案例研究，我们表明，成功的政策实施取决于实地执行者是否拥有使用其技能的自由裁量权，判断和当地知识，以解决问题并确保在实地实施和平行动。为了解释这些发现，和平研究需要进行范式改变。更好地了解实地执行者开展的日常工作，可以避免我们在几十年有缺陷甚至破坏性的和平行动（例如刚果民主共和国的和平行动）中目睹的许多陷阱和缺点。