Book Review: K. Savitri, Conflict Resolution and Peace Building: UN Engagement in Cambodia

Abstract

Dr K. Savitri's book Conflict Resolution and Peace Building: UN Engagement in Cambodia is a scholarly attempt to critically understand and evaluate United Nations (UN) engagement in Cambodia in the areas of peacekeeping, peace building, and post-conflict reconstruction of states. The publication of this book is an important milestone in the emerging discipline of conflict studies in India which is primarily focused in understanding the nature and causes of conflict, besides evaluating the methods, procedures, and practices employed to resolve them. Dr Savitri's choice of the Cambodian case study for research is commendable but comes as no surprise. The sheer magnitude of the Cambodian crisis, and the nature and scale of UN operations there, represents one of the best examples of UN multitasking in the post-Cold War era in conflict resolution. The UN had to reinvent itself in Cambodia, diversifying far beyond any of its mandates in earlier peacekeeping operations: it was involved in civilian administration, disarming of warring groups, conducting elections, humanitarian aid, and restoration of a duly elected democratic government. The mandate of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was, therefore, one of the most ambitious and complex tasks ever undertaken by the UN. Her study starts from the date of the Vietnamese occupation till the UNTAC withdrawal from Cambodia in 1993. Analysis of the UN role in Cambodia is not just a case study in conflict resolution, but its importance lies in the