Military Peace Leadership to Protect the Force and Civilians in an Ever-Changing Environment

Beyond the Conventional Mindset

Authors

  • Omar Martin Tejada Perez University of Manitoba

Abstract

This article explains how peace operations have evolved in response to constant and dynamic changes in conflict environments. This situation challenges traditional military leadership styles and approaches, which are mostly anchored in a conventional warfare mindset, one of the main reasons for the major failures in protecting United Nations forces and local civilians on the ground. Three examples of leadership stories that have positively impacted people on the ground, despite the adversity they faced, together with theoretical leadership approaches, form the analytical frame that leads to some conclusions and recommendations. In this sense, military education, social skills and capabilities, as well as civil and military interaction and coordination, are some topics revisited throughout the document.

Keywords: Peace operations, leadership, professional military education, flexible soldiers, hybrid warriors

Author Biography

  • Omar Martin Tejada Perez, University of Manitoba

    A former United Nations Peacekeeper and International Security Specialist with extensive international fieldwork experience focused on Africa (Sudan and South Sudan) and the Americas (Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Haiti, Peru, and the United States). Omar is a retired Marine Officer of the Peruvian Navy with more than twenty-one years of service. Omar serves as a Peacekeeping Affairs Consultant at the Conflict and Resiliency Research Institute Canada (CRRIC), a Regional Security Expert at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies (CDSS) at the University of Manitoba, and an instructor at the University of Winnipeg. He has recently delivered water safety & survival skills and first aid training to more than twenty different Northern Manitoba communities. Additionally, Omar holds a Master’s degree in International Security Studies from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. He has researched the War on Drugs in Latin America. He is currently writing a thesis on the reintegration process of former child soldiers from the Shining Path and the Militarized Communist Party of Peru to fulfill the requirements for the Master's in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba.

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Published

2026-03-16

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 3 (2025): Journal of Military & Strategic Studies

Section

JMSS Awards of Excellence