The New Interventionism, 1991–1994

This book explores the experience of the United Nations in Cambodia, former Yugoslavia, and Somalia.

At the end of the Cold War the hope was that it would be possible to reform international society and create a new world order. Its central feature would be international intervention, not merely to deter or repel aggression across frontiers, but to protect the victims of civil conflicts within states. These hopes remain largely unfulfilled. This book contributes to our understanding of this failure by examining the three major post-Cold War operations in which the UN has been involved. Each presented the international community with a different challenge: in Cambodia it was to implement a previously negotiated political agreement; in former Yugoslavia to devise a credible division of labour and authority between the UN and the European Union; and in Somalia to mount a humanitarian mission in a country without a government. Each chapter is accompanied by a chronology of events and a selection of relevant UN documents.