Getting Beyond New York: Reforming Peacekeeping in the Field
Author(s)
Bell, Peter D.
Abstract
The peacekeeping system malfunctioned terribly in the 1990s for a host of reasons. In Bosnia, the United Nations was asked to do too much with too little; in Rwanda, world powers failed to act in time; and in Somalia, the United Nations was blamed for an ill-planned operation under direct U.S. control. A chronic condition underpinning all of these disasters was the failure of member states to back their rhetoric with resources-with the United States itself setting a shameful example in its decade-long dues-paying delinquency. Another systemic problem that receives far less attention is the way the U.N. system fails from start to finish to engage local civil society in the peace process in conflict areas. The reform package pending before the U.N. General Assembly makes many worthy recommendations-which include overhauling the management of the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations and authorizing peacekeeping missions only when resources are available to carry out their mandates-but ignores the endemic weakness of the United Nations in eliciting civil society involvement.
