From Peacekeeping To Peacemaking

The UN's record in peace operations is long, various, distinguished by both accomplishments and failures, and most importantly, innovative. Unfulfilled expectations and escalating violence in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia forced retrenchment upon UN peace operations_but at the same time, a new opportunity to enhance capacities, review strategies, redefine roles, and reaffirm responsibilities has opened up. Here, a dynamic group of leading diplomats, academics, and journalists combines forces with UN policymakers and leaders including current Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to explore how the international community can improve its practice in negotiating and implementing peace. They look at what works and what doesn't in UN peacemaking and peacekeeping, and then map out alternative futures for UN action in the 21st century.

'At a time when peacekeepers are struggling to fulfil increasingly demanding mandates and UN peacekeeping is in danger of losing the distinct character that won it the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize, this important book argues for a clear theoretical redefinition within a conflict resolution framework and examines the practical implications for training. This is a valuable and original contribution to the peacekeeping literature.' - Dr. Oliver Ramsbotham, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford 'Both for the 'blue helmets' on the ground, and for the diplomats at UN headquarters, conflict resolution skills are essential for conducting peacekeeping operations. Betts Fetherstone's excellent study points the way forward to a synthesis between conflict management and peacekeeping?' - Hugh Miall, Research Fellow, European Programme, Royal Institute of International Affairs The prevailing over-taxed ad hoc system of peacekeeping does not meet the growing demands posed by the post-Cold War world. This volume argues that peacekeeping needs to be placed on firm conceptual footing directly congruent with its peaceful third party role. The implications of this conceptualisation of peacekeeping for practice are then discussed. Training is cited as a key means of translating conceptual understanding into practice. Without this foundation work, UN has little chance of changing its existing, and largely ineffective, system of conflict management. At a time when peacekeepers are struggling to fulfil increasingly demanding mandates and UN peacekeeping is in danger of losing the distinct character that won it the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize, this important book argues for a clear theoretical redefinition within a conflict resolution framework and examines the practical implications for training. This is a valuable and original contribution to the peacekeeping literature.

This report addresses the challenges of peacekeeping and peacemaking after the Cold War, looking first at recent efforts to keep the peace and then suggesting a multifaceted approach for the future. It looks at operations in which the international community successfully cooperated--such as in Iraq, and less successfully so--such as in Cambodia and the western Sahara. It points out that bringing peace to post-Cold War conflicts will require the international community to take a role in helping build nations and, in the process, carry out such additional activities as monitoring human rights, demobilizing armies, providing administrative services, and setting up democratic institutions.

This examination of Canada's response to the disintegration of the Federal State of Yugoslavia considers how Canadian foreign policy was formed, and the role of the prime minister in this decision-making. Gammer (political science, Okanagan University College) argues that Mulroney used his office to redefine international standards on humanitarian intervention. Gammer also outlines the risks in doing this, and considers the impact of Mulroney's stance on the behavior of Canadian troops. He considers the role of political leadership in foreign affairs, and its relationship to legitimacy. c. Book News Inc.

The fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the United Nations was commemorated in 1995 with a number of conferences and publications which assessed the history and contemporary role of this paramount international organisation. This book is the result of a meeting of scholars and specialists who wished to further understanding of the challenges faced by the United Nations in its efforts to intervene in post-cold war conflict. In particular the experiences in Bosnia, Somalia and in Rwanda, where UN peacekeepers seemed powerless to act in the face of acts of genocide, gross violations of human rights and the widespread suffering caused by war, makes such an analysis timely and important.

The 1988 Nobel Peace Prize has thrown into sharp relief the significant role United Nations' peacekeepers have played on the international stage since the first operation 40 years ago. This volume takes stock of our peacekeeping past and present and considers its future. It gives an insider's look at management and financing issues, the views of troop-contributing countries and the effect of operations on peacekeepers and local populations. This volume strengthens the case for peacekeeping in a viable system for international peace and security.