Customer Reviews

Peacemonger

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book, written by Sir Marrack Goulding, serves the educated reader well, observing the slippery and somewhat sodden state of the contemporary landscape of nation states with creative fidelity and verve. Goulding, currently Warden of St. Antony's College at the University of Oxford, is a veteran of the British Diplomatic Service, serving from 1959 in garden spots across the world such as Lebanon, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, the United States, and Angola. Furthermore, from 1986 to 1993, he labored as the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations for the United Nations, closing out his career as the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs from 1993 until 1997

Therefore, he brings a wealth of personal knowledge as well as a virtual cascade of personal anecdotes to bear as he observes the nature of these unsung heroes who attempt to preside over peace-keeping missions in all of the war-torn places where all other efforts to preserve civic order have failed. In one particular seven-year period (1986-1993) Goulding oversaw sixteen such peacekeeping efforts in places as far-flung as Angola, Yugoslavia, and Somalia. In so doing, he also witnesses a virtual transformation in the UN's attitude concerning its role in solving such regional conflicts. In this book he provides the reader with the kind of privileged insider's look at the nature of the UN's missions, warts and all.

To his credit, he pulls no punches in describing his own sense of frustration in dealing with the endemically disorganized bureaucratic maze that characterizes the UN, yet allows us to learn much more about how the often courageous individuals serving under its banner attempt to carry out the mission despite the amalgam of disquiet and disagreement rumbling on by member states over the course of action in any particular locale. He also provides the reader with a number of no-nonsense insights into the personalities and motives of some of its more memorable principal players within the UN orbit such as Javier Perez de Cueller and the notoriously complex Boutras-Boutras-Ghali. In so doing he also chronicles the internal dissension and dissatisfactions that often undermine the organization's effectiveness and efficiency. He also praises the gradual improvement of the UN's efforts in several of these conflicts to encourage democratic elections and the eventual demobilization of warring belligerents. This is an absorbing, honest, and unflinching look at the way in which the UN's peace-keeping efforts actually work, and as such it offers us some valuable insights as to its most dangerous and often most valuable activity. Enjoy!