Peacemonger

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JHU Press, 2003 - Political Science - 393 pages

In 1986, British diplomat Marrack Goulding became the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations in charge of peacekeeping. Since 1978, no new peacekeeping operations had been launched, while existing ones in the Middle East, Cyprus, and Kashmir had stagnated. During the following seven years, however, Goulding presided over sixteen new missions, including highly controversial efforts in Angola, Yugoslavia, and Somalia. Goulding's historic tenure coincided with a dramatic shift in attitude within the UN about its role in ending regional conflicts. In Peacemonger, he provides an unprecedented insider's account of the organization's successes and failures in this period.

From the UN's unwieldy bureaucracy and its often uneasy relationship with member states to the individual courage of many of its officials and their frequently unsung achievements, Goulding details the UN's responses to the crises of the post--Cold War world. He offers frank portraits of Javier Perez de Cuellar and Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the two Secretaries-General under whom he worked, and chronicles the internal strife that undermined the UN's efficiency. He also documents the development during his watch of new types of peacekeeping missions that did far more than preside over ongoing and irresolvable conflicts. In Namibia, Cambodia, and Central America, UN peacekeepers facilitated democratic elections and the demobilization of belligerents. Dispassionate, perceptive, and unblinkingly honest, Peacemonger offers vital insights into the UN's most perilous and contentious activity.

 

Contents

Beginnings
3
United Nations Peace Operations
23
Cyprus
47
Lebanon
57
The Thaw Begins
117
Iraq vs Iran
123
Namibia
139
Angola
176
14
247
Collapsing States
269
Iraq vs Kuwait
280
Lessons Learnt
333
Epilogue
345
Acronyms and Abbreviations
359
Dramatis Personae Maiores
365
The Peacekeeping Workload 19861992
379

Western Sahara
199
Central America
215

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About the author (2003)

Sir Marrack Goulding is Warden of St. Antony's College at the University of Oxford. He joined the British Diplomatic Service in 1959 and served in various capacities in Lebanon, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, the United States, and Angola. From 1986 to 1993, he worked in the United Nations as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations; from 1993 to 1997, he was Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

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