Casualties of the new world order : the causes of failure of UN missions to civil wars

Select an Action

Title:

Author:

Wesley, Michael, 1968-

ISBN:

9780333682449

9780312174781

Personal Author:

Wesley, Michael, 1968-

Publication Information:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Macmillan ; New York : St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Physical Description:

xi, 200 p. ; 23 cm.

General Note:

Based on the author's thesis (doctoral--University of St. Andrews)

Contents:

1. Introduction. The Weaknesses in United Nations Missions. The Logic of Civil War Conflict Dynamics. UN Missions in Civil Wars: A Framework for Analysis -- 2. Mediation. Bosnia-Herzegovina: Speaking into a Hurricane. El Salvador: A Timely Success -- 3. Peacekeeping. Handling Scorpions in Somalia. Purchasing Peace in Mozambique -- 4. Election Monitoring. The Angolan Elections: War by Other Means. Coralling the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia -- 5. Conclusion.

Abstract:

This book searches for causes of the spectacular failures of UN missions after the Cold War. Drawing on theories of international relations, and interviews with diplomats, UN officials, and peacekeepers, it contends that the missions that failed all contained common weaknesses, which were particularly vulnerable in the ferocious civil conflicts that the UN became involved with after the Cold War. The analysis traces these mission weaknesses to the control that coalitions of self-interested and distracted UN states continue to exercise over the missions' planning, mandates, resourcing and operations. Rivalries and misdiagnoses within these coalitions often produce missions that are misconceived, inappropriately resourced, and charged with unrealistic tasks.

In arguing this case, this book provides unique insights into some of the mediation and peacekeeping missions that have dominated the past five years' headlines. It examines not only the failures, in Bosnia, Somalia and Angola, but also the UN's successes in El Salvador, Mozambique and Cambodia.

Corporate Subject:

United Nations -- Armed Forces.

Subject Term:

Civil war.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168015735760	341.584 W514C 1997	1	Searching... Unknown
Searching... 1:MAIN	1:UNKNOWN	25080-2001	NO CONFIGURATION	1	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Casualties of the New World Order contends that the high rate of failure among post-Cold War UN missions are attributable to common weaknesses which are vulnerable to civil war dynamics. These mission weaknesses derive from the high level of control over the missions' mandates and operations wielded by combinations of self-interested and distracted UN member-states. The effects of these weaknesses are examined in the failed missions in Bosnia, Somalia, and Angola, while their absence is observed in the successful missions to El Salvador, Mozambique, and Cambodia.