Towards Successful Peace-keeping

Abstract

Using a case study of the UN’s experiences in Croatia, this essay addresses the question of why some UN peace-keeping missions succeed, while others fail. The essay develops wider criteria of success than usually employed in peace-keeping literature and analyzes the performance in Croatia based on these measures. It then takes hypotheses extracted from the international relations literature on peace-keeping and comparative politics literature on civil conflict management and tests them against this case. First,‘international’ factors, those related to the UN itself, such as its level of commitment to a mission, and the presence or absence of leadership by a major power, are considered. Second, ‘domestic’ factors are addressed, including the level of consent and cooperation of the warring parties and the existence of a military stalemate. In light of these findings it is asserted that peace-keeping can indeed be successful when certain necessary and sufficient conditions are met. In Croatia, success seems mostly dependent on the domestic factors. This supports the notion of a ‘ripeness’ point for resolution.

Peace on the Small Screen: UNPROFOR’s Television Unit in 1994–5 and the ‘Media War’ in Former Yugoslavia

“…106 UNTV's access to HTV remained governed by the Croatian authorities' deteriorating relationship with UNPROFOR writ large, including Tudman's threat to revoke UNPROFOR's mandate altogether in January 1995, resulting in a somewhat cosmetic reorganisation of the force in Croatia as the UN Confidence Restoration Operation (UNCRO). 107 HTV still broadcast occasional UNTV films on its Slikom na sliku (Frame by Frame) programme (containing news reports from foreign broadcasters), allowing it to distance UNTV's editorial line from its own, though records in the UNTV collection are patchy about what was shown when. The appointment of Ivan Para c as HRT's new director-general, however, warmed HTV's relationship with UNTV in February 1995.…”