Mission Improbable [Hardcover]

Helen Fogarassy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0739100203 | ISBN-13: 978-0739100202

Helen Fogarassy, editor-in-chief of the UNOSOM Weekly Review in Somalia during the 1994 crisis, describes the overwhelmingly positive effect of multinational intervention in the wartorn country. Based on her first-hand observations, Fogarassy argues forcefully in defense of such humanitarian ventures, while simultaneously decrying the oversimplification of the Somalian situation by the world media. She demonstrates how our widespread perception that humanitarian missions in developing countries are doomed to failure is directly related to the images of dead American soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. While this picture proves undeniably horrific, success appeared with improved health and educational situations, in addition to a stabilized society with a developing infrastructure and a workable government. Fogarassy's provocative book is sure to make historians, political scientists, and policy makers reexamine the need for humanitarian intervention in other desperate countries.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Helen Fogarassy was Editor-in-Chief of the UNOSOM Weekly Review in Somalia during the 1994 crisis. She is currently a writer and editor in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Lexington Books (March 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739100203
• ISBN-13: 978-0739100202
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,645,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Hungary after the Second World War, Helen Fogarassy passed through Austria with her refugee family and grew up in the industrial northwest region of Indiana.

With a Comparative Literature degree from Indiana University, she began her career at Scholastic Magazines in New York. From there, she branched into literary fiction, journalism and commercial writing.

Her first novel was published in 1988; her association with the United Nations began in 1989. She has worked with such notable figures as Margaret Mahler, the child psychiatrist; Robert Gersin, the industrial designer and members of the Trump Organization.

Fogarassy plays with big ideas in her work, which embraces both the experimentation of expression and the recognition of needed conventions for communicating. Cultural evolution and innovation are pet themes. Of special interest are: the fall of the Iron Curtain and its global aftermath, the 1994 Somalia intervention, the 2008 United States election and the cracking of glass ceilings in the areas of gender and race.

Fogarassy is a member of: The Authors Guild, The International Women's Writing Guild, Poets and Writers, and PEN. She is listed in Who's Who and other biographical publications.

She is married to Bronx criminal defense attorney Robert Hamilton Johnston. Two feline family members are a sleek black male named Shugs and a fluffy black-and-white female named Toots.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique insight into UN operations at all levels, May 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mission Improbable (Hardcover)

Mission Improbable gives a very accurate and comprehensive history of the UN operation in Somalia from the historical, political, operational, bureaucratic and personal levels. It describes the anguish of a people struggling to cope both with their own fragmented leadership and with an alien monolith, represented by UNOSOM, in their midst.

The book details the minutiae of a UN bureaucracy at its best and at its worst. On the one hand, it shows how a group of dedicated people representing virtually every culture from around the world can establish themselves in a particularly harsh and dangerous environment, risking their lives to help a desperately needy country get back on its feet and restore its social, economic and political infrastructure.

On the other hand, it demonstrates the ill-preparedness of the Organization, as a reflection of the ill-preparedness of its member state components, to truly understand and to effectively deal with the unique Somalian culture whose goals were essentially parallel to, if not identical with, the UNOSOM mission.

The book touches repeatedly upon the day-to-day frustrations of a transplanted UN bureaucracy, including the furiously circuitous paths that must be taken to get seemingly simple things accomplished, from procuring toilet paper for personal use to trying to explain the whereabouts of a suddenly missing $4 million in cash.

The author explains the conflicts between the age-old Somali clan system, the glue that holds the Somali people together, and the upstart international presence. Most importantly, she explains that this was the fundamental reason behind the inability of the two cultures to communicate meaningfully with one another and which led to the collapse of the international effort to resolve the problem. Nevertheless, as is repeatedly intimated, the Somali people represented by the opposing factions and left to their own devices, are making headway in the formation of a new government which will bring an end to their years of misery.

Overall, this book provides an absolutely unique insight into the UN operation in Somalia and serves to place in a remarkable light the peace that the Somalis are trying to achieve after an important jump-start from the United Nations.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book puts the record straight. Somalia was a success., May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mission Improbable (Hardcover)

The author's experience as an information officer with the United nations Mission in Somalia (UNOSOM) provides accurate information for the public on the achievement of the UN/US intervention in Somalia. Her narrative puts the record straight by correcting sensational and incomplete international media reports which helped create the impression that the intervention was a failure. With numerous examples such as the prevention of famine, the checking of cholera, the development of markets, the promotion of cattle and fruit exports and the non-retrogression into total anarchy when the UN pulled in March 1995, Fogarassy points out that these significant developments were ignored by the international media because they lacked commercial newsworthiness.

By introducing a Media Unit as part of its operation in Somalia, the UN was capable of more effective communication with the Somalis by radio and print. The services of the Media Unit were invaluable in assisting the Somali reconciliation meetings in Kismayo, Mogadishu and Nairobi. Additionally, the Media Unit complemented the operations of other UNOSOM departments (Justice, Political, Humanitarian and Disarmament, Demining and Demobilisation), as well as those of other international organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The UNOSOM operation highlighted a number of shortcomings in the UN's efficiency in managing field operations needing review, including in recruitment, management and control. Frequent changes in top management undercut mutual trust between Somalis and the international community while disruptive rivalries between the Media Unit chief and the spokesman led to dysfunction in processing and distribution of information, one reason for the international media not obtaining wider coverage of UNOSOM activities.

The UNOSOM compound facilitated the harmonious co-existence of people from diverse cultures, who realised that racial and cultural stereotyping masked much in common to all societies regardless of religion, race or culture. This awareness helped to appreciate that adversarial politics and political party organisations, the basis of democratic systems in western society, are not readily applicable to the Somali context where individualism and communalism are the norms, with decisions reached after extensive consultations among clans and factions. The international community found it convenient to look to Aidid and Ali Mahdi, the principle leaders of two main groups of clan and factional alliances, and they held these two responsible for agreements entered into on behalf of their allies. It was not appreciated that both leaders had very lax disciplinary power over their allies, unlike in a traditional developed country political party organisation. By the same token, the international community, especially the US, was impatient with the long Somali process of consultations and hence, the premature abandonment of the Mission when dividends from the intervention were yielding fruit.

One important lesson from the Somalia operation was that treating the host country with condescension prevented the international community from understanding the Somali psyche. It hindered a faster rate of progress in the restoration of peace and stability. Using utilitarian instruments of incentives and sanctions to achieve goals was counter-productive, yet when funds and facilities for reconciliation meetings were offered, a number of initiatives for reconciliations emerged. Reconciliation that could have led to the formation of a national government was slowed by the Somalis trying to settle historically outstanding clan differences that ranked higher in their priorities.

This book is a didactic source of information on what transpired in Somalia. It makes the case that the intervention was successful and it appeals for a tapping of the UN's extensive facilities for information the commercial media can use.