UN strategic peacekeeping in the Congo and Bosnia : a comparative analysis
Date
1997
Authors
Maksudî, Ahmed Hadi
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Abstract
This thesis focuses on UN strategic peacekeeping in the Congo and Bosnia. While UN intervention seems to have succeeded in keeping the Congo united and indivisible in the face of the secessionists pressures from certain factions, the organization's involvement in the case of Bosnia's conflict has been counter-productive and in some cases has even exacerbated the situation in that country. The core of the thesis deals with various explanatory variables that I have hypothesized as accounting for the observed difference in outcome of the UN peacekeeping operations in the Congo and Bosnia. I contend that the sine qua non variable for the overall success of a peacekeeping mission is the political will shown by the major nations in the UN, especially the United States. Other supplementary factors also contribute to the overall success of a UN peacekeeping operation though none is as important as the political context variable.