1. Keeping or Building Peace? The Challenges of Solving Armed Intra-state Conflicts
- Author:
- Michael von der Schulenburg
- Publication Date:
- 02-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- On 11 June 2014, the UN Secretary-General, speaking in the UN Security Council, expressed his concerns about what he perceived as unprecedented violence and complexity facing present UN peacekeeping operations around the world. He suggested a thorough review of all UN peace operations was necessary; this paper is intended to make a contribution to this review. The Secretary-General’s concerns were triggered by a number of recent setbacks in peacekeeping operations and by repeated attacks on UN peacekeeping operations that resulted in the deplorable deaths and injuries to a number of peacekeepers. He gave three problem areas as the reasons for this adverse situation: (i) UN peacekeeping was increasingly mandated to operate where there is no peace to keep; (ii) some UN peacekeeping operations are being authorized in the absence of clearly identifiable parties to the conflict or a viable political process and (iii) UN peacekeeping operations are increasingly operating in more complex environments that feature asymmetric and unconventional threats.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, United Nations, and Peacekeeping