As the UN celebrates its 50th anniversary, it has become embroiled in controversy sparked by its recent extensive involvement in operations which go beyond traditional peacekeeping. This book brings together leading scholars and practitioners who explicate the issues at the heart of the controversy and recommends changes for the organization and its member states. In dedicated analyses as well as case studies, the authors focus on issues of sovereignty and intervention, national commitments to non-traditional missions, and operational efficiency and effectiveness when undertaking such missions.

Trends in the number and scope of peace operations since 2000 evidence heightened international appreciation for their value in crisis-response and regional stabilization. "Peace Operations: Trends, Progress, and Prospects" addresses national and institutional capacities to undertake such operations, by going beyond what is available in previously published literature. Part one focuses on developments across regions and countries. It builds on data- gathering projects undertaken at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS), the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) that offer new information about national contributions to operations and about the organizations through which they make those contributions. The information provides the bases for arriving at unique insights about the characteristics of contributors and about the division of labor between the United Nations and other international entities. Part two looks to trends and prospects within regions and nations. Unlike other studies that focus only on regions with well-established track records - specifically Europe and Africa - this book also looks to the other major areas of the world and poses two questions concerning them: If little or nothing has been done institutionally in a region, why not? And what should be expected? This groundbreaking volume will help policymakers and academics understand better the regional and national factors shaping the prospects for peace operations into the next decade.