The United Nations, intra-state peacekeeping and normative change

Explores the normative dimension of the evolving role of the United Nations in peace and security and, ultimately, in governance.

Explores the normative dimension of the evolving role of the United Nations in peace and security and, ultimately, in governance.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This study explores the normative dimension of the evolving role of the United Nations in peace and security and, ultimately, in governance. What is dealt with here is both the UN's changing raison d'être and the wider normative context within which the organisation is located. The study looks at the UN through the window of one of its most contentious, yet least understood, practices: active involvement in intra-state conflicts as epitomised by UN peacekeeping. Drawing on the conceptual tools provided by the 'historical structural' approach, this study seeks to understand how and why the international community continuously reinterprets or redefines the UN's role with regard to intra-state conflicts. The study concentrates on intra-states 'peacekeeping environments', and examines what changes, if any, have occurred to the normative basis of UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts from the early 1960s to the early 1990s. One of the original aspects of the study is its analytical framework, where the conceptualisation of 'normative basis' revolves around objectives, functions and authority, and is closely connected with the institutionalised values in the UN Charter such as state sovereignty, human rights and socio-economic development. This book is essential reading for postgraduate students of IR and international peacekeeping organisations.

1. The UN and intra-state conflict:problematising the normative connection 2. Rethinking the UN through intra-state peacekeeping: the analytical framework 3. The UN's role in historical context: impact of structural tensions and thresholds 4. UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts: evolution of the normative basis 5. The UN in the Congo conflict: ONUC 6. The UN on the Cyprus conflict: UNFICYP 7. The UN in the Angola conflict: UNAVEM 8. The UN in the Cambodia conflict: UNTAC 9. Reflections on international normative change