Peacekeeping: Outspoken Observations by a Field Officer - Hardcover

by James H. Allan (Author), John a. English (Foreword by)

This study argues, based on the author's firsthand experience with five United Nations peacekeeping missions, that classic peacekeepers in the Cold War era could play a limited but nonetheless useful role in international conflict control. However, in the post-Cold War period, some new approaches to peacekeeping and ventures into enforcement have been unsuccessful, and the United Nations has lost much credibility in the art of peacekeeping. In a violent world, peacekeeping will always play a minor supporting role to traditional diplomacy among the great powers and to coalition and alliance efforts to control conflict. The author's involvement in peacekeeping missions in Cyprus, Iran-Iraq, and other parts of the Middle East over the period from 1967 to 1990 gives him a rare and informed perspective on peacekeeping.

Author Biography

JAMES H. ALLAN served for 37 years as an infantry officer in the Canadian Army before retiring as a colonel in 1991. He had extensive peacekeeping experience in Cyprus, Syria, Israel, Iran, and Iraq.