Warner, Daniel, ed. New Dimensions of Peacekeeping. Dordrecht/Boston/London: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1995.
During 1994, as part of the celebration of the United Nations' 50th Anni versary in 1995, a colloquium on the subject of "New Dimensions of Peacekeep ing" was held in Geneva that brought together academics and practitioners to discuss the evolution of peacekeeping and attempt to identify future trends and needs in the process. This book embodies the papers and discussion that took place at the colloquium. A short introduction by Yasushi Akashi alerts the reader to some of the hard questions the international community must answer if UN peacekeeping is to remain a potent factor in the maintenance of international peace and security.
George Abi-Saab retraces the origin of peacekeeping by the UN, provides an evaluation of the characteristics of peacekeeping in early crises and its various adaptations, as for example, Suez (1956) and Congo (1960). He then switches to the new type of peacekeeping operations that pose greater problems in order to achieve a successful resolution. He identifies the problems of resources, the multiplicity of interventions in the same crisis (as in the case of the former Yugoslavia), and peace enforcement, an uncharted practice that is not clearly defined.
Three case studies are next presented that evaluate what transpired and the lessons learned from them. In the first case, Victor-Yves Ghebali contrasts the UN role with the multilateral coordinated attempts to resolve the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Specifically, his assessment focuses on the peacekeeping, peace-enforcement, peacemaking and preventive diplomacy techniques that had failed at the time of writing (mid-1994). The second case study involves Steven Ratner's evaluation of how the UN's new peacekeeping mission operated in Cambodia. His approach is to demonstrate the qualitative change that this UN mission undertook from its previous modus operandi. Serge Lalande's study of the UN's first large-scale purely "humanitarian intervention" in Somalia magni fies the serious major issues that need to be taken into account in future peace keeping operations.
The address of Hisashi Owada provides insight into the events that led up to Japan's adoption of a law that created a legal framework for its participation in UN peacekeeping activities. He further comments on the UN Secretary-Gen eral's 1992 Agenda for Peace thus providing the reader with a Japanese perspec tive. In another address, Sadako Ogata examines the implications between peace keeping and humanitarian action from the perspective of a humanitarian organi zation. He analyzes several specific cases, and contributes some ways to improve cooperation between the humanitarian and politico-military components of the UN without jeopardizing the integrity of either party.
Three essays follow that discuss substantive activities. In the first, Mats Berdal contributes to the ongoing debate on military aspects of UN peacekeeping based on experiences between 1991 and 1994. In my view, the author has pruned down his paper too much from an earlier, more elaborate paper to be helpful. The second paper by Sergio Vieira De Mello is a tightly constructed call for broad ening the scope of humanitarianism leading to a mutually-reinforcing co-exist ence with peacekeeping practices. Finally, Ronald Dreyer describes how UN peacekeeping operations have contributed to state building and democracy. He sets out his own suggestions on how the UN may enhance the effectiveness of its peace building activities.
The umbrella topic of "Managing Peacekeeping" contains three essays. Ralph Zacklin only gives us a glimpse at the contours of the legal questions encountered by the legal office of the UN in a peacekeeping operation. In my estimation, it is too narrow for the reader to gauge its complexity. Maurice Bertrand is more successful in illustrating the confusion that sometimes exists between peacemaking and peacekeeping. Finally, Elie Marcuse concentrates on NATO's role in the former Yugoslavia with emphasis on its expanded operations in early 1994.
Connie Peck, in the final section of the book, as a rapporteur of the conference, does a very good job in synthesizing the discussion that centered around the papers, summarizing the substance of all contributors and tidying up the loose ends in a competent, readable way.
The book is properly titled. Many patterns of peacekeeping are in the process of change, and the contributors point to the signposts of the future. One de minimus oversight is a table that identifies the acronyms used for the neophyte and the recently initiated.
Daniel C. Turack
Capital University Law School