Evolution of a National Doctrine for Peace Support Operations

This paper seeks to cut through the confusion, lack of clarity, and ambiguity that currently surround the concepts of consent, neutrality and impartia

This paper seeks to cut through the confusion, lack of clarity, and ambiguity that currently surround the concepts of consent, neutrality and impartiality. It offers an interpretive guide to competitive definitions of these terms, and explores the policy implications of these different meanings. The paper uses evidence from recent UN peace operations to illustrate two major consequences of doctrinal confusion: the incapability to achieve concerted strategic action, and the ill-effects of applying traditional peacekeeping concepts to situations where the requisites for peacekeeping are absent. The paper concludes by arguing that the challenges of peacekeeping in the 1990s require a new doctrine for peace operations that takes into account the hazards of implementing peace in civil wars.

This paper is part of an IDP book by Jakkie Potgieter and Virginia Gamba on Multifunction Peace Support Missions, due to be published early in 1997 by IDP.

Authors

Jakkie Potgieter, Senior Field Researcher and Virginia Gamba, Project Director, Institute for Defence Policy