The Strategic Context: Peacekeeping in Crisis, 2006-08

By Richard Gowan

There is a consensus that the UN needs a stronger strategic culture, but its strategic circumstances militate against this. Since 2006, the UN has struggled with a series of crises that have overshadowed efforts to develop the idea of integration. It also faces a systemic crisis, in that its framework for deploying missions has been undermined in Darfur. In addition it faces a paradigmatic crisis, as many of its assumptions about transitions from war to peace have been shown wanting in cases from Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of Congo. At a time of increasing rivalry among major powers, not least in the Security Council, the UN may not develop comprehensive strategies aimed at transforming post-conflict societies. But it may be able to achieve more limited but politically credible goals.

Access this report via ReliefWeb