UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars

Civil wars pose some of the most difficult problems in the world today and the United Nations is the organization generally called upon to bring and sustain peace. Lise Morj Howard studies the sources of success and failure in UN peacekeeping. Her in-depth 2007 analysis of some of the most complex UN peacekeeping missions debunks the conventional wisdom that they habitually fail, showing that the UN record actually includes a number of important, though understudied, success stories. Using systematic comparative analysis, Howard argues that UN peacekeeping succeeds when field missions establish significant autonomy from UN headquarters, allowing civilian and military staff to adjust to the post-civil war environment. In contrast, failure frequently results from operational directives originating in UN headquarters, often devised in relation to higher-level political disputes with little relevance to the civil war in question. Howard recommends future reforms be oriented toward devolving decision-making power to the field missions.

Author: Lise Morjé Howard
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 12/01/2007
Pages: 418
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780521707671

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2008 pg. 208

About the Author
Howard, Lise Morjé: - Lise Morjé Howard is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University and Director of the M.A. Program in Conflict Resolution.

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