Overview

The end of the Cold War, which had significantly shaped international relations and global security structures for nearly half a century, imposed a practical burden of peace support upon the UN which it had always faced in theory but had never put into practice. The post-1991 debacles in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, the African Great Lakes region and East Timor swiftly and painfully demonstrated that the UN organization lacked the resources and infrastructure effectively to meet the enhanced demands being placed upon it. The idea that regional organizations and arrangements might fill the gap thus disclosed was prominent amongst the immediate responses to this problem. The role of the NATO-led forces, IFOR, SFOR and KFOR, in successive episodes of the former-Yugoslav crisis lent some support to this idea, but also illustrated some of its dangers. As the post-Cold War era has moved on, it has become manifest that whilst the regional options may have much to offer they can afford no simple solution to the post-Cold War peace support crisis. It is the purpose of this study to explore both the potential and the limitations of regional agencies as significant peace support actors at the dawn of a new century. This book has been written upon a trans-disciplinary basis, involving both international relations and international legal perceptions, proceeding from the presumption that these disciplines are not ultimately separable. The nature and the diversity of regional capacities are examined, as is the continuing importance of global control. The ultimate conclusion that the key issue for the 21st century is one of appropriate selection amongst many options, within the meaning of article 53 of the UN Charter, need perhaps occasion little surprise. The nature of these options and the actual or potential processes of selection are, however, of vital importance in the initiation of a meaningful 21st-century defence and security debate.

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'The authors of the book set out to explore both the potential and the limitations of regional agencies as significant peace support actors at the dawn of a new century and a new millennium (p.vii) and they do so rather successfully in this book.' International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 50 (January 2001).

' The authors of the book set out to explore both the potential and the limitations of regional agencies as significant peace support actors at the dawn of a new century and a new millennium (p.vii) and they do so rather successfully in this book.'<br> International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 50 (January 2001).

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