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7 - The UN Security Council, Regional Arrangements, and Peacekeeping Operations
- Edited by Hilary Charlesworth, Australian National University, Canberra, Jean-Marc Coicaud
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- Book:
- Fault Lines of International Legitimacy
- Published online:
- 06 April 2010
- Print publication:
- 25 February 2010, pp 204-238
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Summary
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been an escalation of demands for United Nations (UN) intervention, mostly in situations of convoluted internal conflict that require complex and novel peacekeeping operations. Such internal conflicts are not limited to their boundaries but also affect entire regions through the displacement of persons as well as the flow of arms and resources. This generally requires both a regional and an international response. The international legitimacy of a UN peacekeeping operation is usually derived from obtaining a mandate from the UN Security Council. The uniquely broad representation of member states that contribute personnel and funding to UN operations strengthens this international legitimacy. So, too, does the fact that UN peacekeeping operations are directed by the UN Secretary-General, an impartial and well-respected international figure who is committed to upholding the principles and purposes of the UN Charter.
Since 1989, the UN has established more than thirty new peacekeeping operations, which contrasts with the fifteen instituted in the previous forty-one years. These growing commitments have stretched to the limit the capacity of the UN for effective response. The surge in UN peacekeeping activity has come at a cost. Few current UN peacekeeping missions enjoy a full degree of support and attention from member states and the UN, particularly in terms of reflection and review of strategy, policy, and effective public communications.
4 - The Cambodian Settlement Agreements
- Edited by Michael W. Doyle, Princeton University, New Jersey, Ian Johnstone, Brookings Institution, Washington DC, Robert C. Orr, Princeton University, New Jersey
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- Book:
- Keeping the Peace
- Published online:
- 22 October 2009
- Print publication:
- 07 August 1997, pp 82-106
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Summary
Introduction
The Cambodian Settlement Agreements of 1991 provided a revolutionary blueprint for a comprehensive settlement to the twenty-year war in Cambodia, a conflict with both internal and international dimensions. These agreements also gave the United Nations (UN) a unique role in the settlement and management of such conflicts. Notable aspects of the Agreements include: the comprehensiveness of the settlement plan; recognition of a Supreme National Council as a vehicle for “enshrining” the sovereignty, independence, and unity of Cambodia during the transition period; and the unprecedented role of the UN in the settlement process.
The Agreements launched the UN into a new and comprehensive role that involved not only peacemaking and peacekeeping, but also “peacebuilding.” The parties agreed to an active UN role not only in facilitating a ceasefire and the disarming of the factions – the traditional terrain of UN peacekeeping – but also to a major UN role in the maintenance of law and order, the repatriation of refugees, the promotion of human rights and principles for a new constitution, the supervision and control of certain aspects of the governmental administrative machinery, and most significantly, the organization, conduct, and monitoring of elections.
The significance of the Agreements lay in the international community charging the UN – for the first time in its history – with the political and economic restructuring of a member state, through which the parties would then (it was planned) institutionalize their reconciliation.