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It is time to take a long term view of conflict management, recognize the serious limitations of military intervention, and begin work to improve and develop other more viable options.(1)
This article describes the evolving contributions of peacekeepers to conflict resolution. Drawing on Canada's long involvement with the United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for illustrations, its purpose is two-fold. The first purpose is to review the contributions of peacekeeping as it has been practiced in the past. The second is to indicate what new techniques may be used to help peacekeepers work more actively with civilians to eliminate violent conflict. To argue by analogy, I believe the situation of peacekeepers today is much like the situation of commanders on the Western Front in 1916, who were bogged down in defensive operations. To push the analogy somewhat, new tools of war were becoming available to commanders in 1916 that would permit them to take the offensive if they could only adjust their thinking about how to use their forces.(2) In the same way, new techniques of peacekeeping, taken from conflict resolution theory and civilian experience, now permit peacekeepers to take the offensive to restore peace. Doing so, however, requires some adjustment in how we think about peacekeeping operations.
To make this argument, I begin by examining some of the complexities entailed in organizing peacekeeping operations in Cyprus. I next describe the major defensive techniques of peacekeeping that have been employed by Canadian forces in Cyprus as part of UNFICYP. Then I consider what new techniques might have been deployed that would enable peacekeepers, working closely with civilians, to take the offensive in achieving conflict resolution. Finally, I consider more generally what conditions must be met if these new techniques of conflict management are expected to work.
Organizing Successful Peacekeeping Operations
Peacekeeping may be defined as "the prevention, containment, moderation and termination of hostilities between or within states, through the medium of a peaceful third party intervention organized and directed internationally, using multinational forces of soldiers, police and civilians to restore and maintain peace."(3) The aim, ultimately, is to establish a just and stable peace. From the viewpoint of military commanders, success in creating conditions for such a peace requires as much organizational planning as success...