ABSTRACT The peacekeeping partnership between the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU), which started in 2002, occurred at three levels: strategic, institutional and operational. The strategic partnership involves the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC); the institutional partnership comprises the UN Secretariat and the AU Commission, while joint peacekeeping operations have been carried out in Sudan, Somalia and Mali. Existing studies on how to i...