Description: When the UN was created during the closing months of World War II, its primary purpose was "to maintain international peace and security". Sadly, the Cold War quickly undermined that goal and reduced effective Security Council actions -- with the exception of an unusual setting in Korea -- to peripheral conflicts. The fall of the Berlin Wall, followed quickly by dramatic Security Council success during Operation Desert Storm, led many to envision the effective realization of the original UN dream. But subsequent mistakes in Bosnia and Somalia quickly dampened expectations and promoted speculation that perhaps it was simply unrealistic to expect the UN to do much about armed conflict.

This important new volume brings together a remarkable international group of senior theorists and practitioners to address ways in which the United Nations can play an important and effective role in keeping the peace and preventing international armed conflict. It features contributions by the Legal Adviser to the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs (an experienced UN diplomat), one of the Canadian Army's most experienced international peacekeepers, one of the American military's most experienced peacekeepers (a four-star general who now serves as Commander in Chief of Central Command), a retired Canadian officer who has trained more international peacekeepers than anyone in the world, an American legal scholar who served for two terms as the first Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the dean of American political scientists specializing in International Organizations. Anyone interested in the subject will benefit from their insights.

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