What leads peacekeeping forces to secure the support of the people they serve? This paper answers this question by examining public support for MINUSTAH, the peacekeeping force currently deployed in Haiti. Our analysis of public opinion data finds that in Haiti, peacekeepers have not fared much better than most domestic institutions in terms of legitimacy. We find that both before and after the 2010 earthquake, public support for peacekeepers trailed the low levels of support for domestic institutions. To understand why MINUSTAH has struggled to earn the support of the people it serves, we examine public evaluations of the peacekeeping mission and identify the determinants of support for peacekeepers, focusing in particular on the role of service provision in predicting people’s support for MINUSTAH.
