This study by Larry J. Woods and Colonel Timothy R. Reese analyzes the massive turmoil afflicting the nation of Sierra Leone, 1995-2002, and the efforts by a variety of outside forces to bring lasting stability to that small country. The taxonomy of intervention ranged from private mercenary armies, through the Economic Community of West African States, to the United Nations and the United Kingdom. In every case, those who intervened encountered a common set of difficulties that had to be overcome. Unsurprisingly, they also discovered challenges unique to their own organizations and political circumstances. This cogent analysis of recent interventions in Sierra Leone represents a cautionary tale that political leaders and military planners contemplating intervention in Africa ignore at their peril. (Originally published by the Combat Studies Institute)
The Oxford Handbook on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations presents an innovative, authoritative, and accessible examination and critique of the United Nations peacekeeping operations. Since the late 1940s, but particularly since the end of the cold war, peacekeeping has been a central part of the core activities of the United Nations and a major process in global security governance and the management of international relations in general. The volume will present a chronological analysis, designed to provide a comprehensive perspective that highlights the evolution of UN peacekeeping and offers a detailed picture of how the decisions of UN bureaucrats and national governments on the set-up and design of particular UN missions were, and remain, influenced by the impact of preceding operations. The volume will bring together leading scholars and senior practitioners in order to provide overviews and analyses of all 65 peacekeeping operations that have been carried out by the United Nations since 1948. As with all Oxford Handbooks, the volume will be agenda-setting in importance, providing the authoritative point of reference for all those working throughout international relations and beyond.
This text aims to unravel the tangled web of the conflict by addressing questions including: why did Nigeria intervene in Liberia and remain committed throughout the seven-year civil war?; and to what extent was ECOMOG's intervention shaped by Nigeria's hegemonic aspirations.
The euphoric cries of a peaceful and more dynamic new world order, which followed the end of the Cold War have been silenced by the increased intensity of local conflicts around the world. The humanitarian crises resulting from these conflicts have attracted greater international attention. Perhaps even more tragic is the failure of the international community to find early effective response to these conflicts, which have profound security implications for the affected regions and have led to the collapse of state structures in some cases. The intra-state conflicts in Africa alone have claimed over one million lives since 1990. On the international scene these internal conflicts have created new challenges for the UN, whose efforts at dealing with them have produced mixed results, whilst international policy makers, the military and academics are faced with difficult questions. Can traditional peacekeeping be stretched to accommodate this class of conflict? What is the legal basis for these operations? Attempts to answer these questions at the conceptual level have led to the development of concepts such as second generation peacekeeping, wider peacekeeping, peace support operations and strategic peacekeeping. It has emerged that there is no common view on an effective and realistic set of tools to manage these crises. Perhaps the most significant point to arise from the differing conceptual views presently is that an effective approach and sound legal basis have not been found for dealing with recalcitrant internal conflicts in far away regions, which are not high on the strategic considerations of the great powers. This book reconsiders the role of the UN and regional organisations such as ECOWAS in Africa. It examines the response to the civil war in Liberia, which served as a precursor to the international response to the crisis in Sierra Leone. On the one hand, this book offers an analysis of a new conceptual framework for managing a specific class of violent conflict. On the other hand, it provides first hand account of the character of a force that attempted to apply this approach. In drawing some of its conclusions, the book relies on the testimonies of many of the soldiers who formed the core of the military operations in these difficult conflict areas in West Africa.
In this comprehensive study, 15 African experts describe and analyse the military budgetary processes and degree of parliamentary oversight and control in nine countries of Africa, spanning across all the continent's sub-regions. Each case study addresses a wide range of questions, such as the roles of the ministries of finance, budget offices, audit departments and external actors in the military budgetary processes, the extent of compliance with standard public expenditure management procedures, and how well official military expenditure figures reflect the true economic resources devoted to military activities in these countries.
Alcibiades is one of the most famous (or infamous) characters of Classical Greece. A young Athenian aristocrat, he came to prominence during the Peloponnesian War (429-404 BC) between Sparta and Athens. Flamboyant, charismatic (and wealthy), this close associate of Socrates persuaded the Athenians to attempt to stand up to the Spartans on land as part of an alliance he was instrumental in bringing together. Although this led to defeat at the Battle of Mantinea in 418 BC, his prestige remained high. He was also a prime mover in Athens' next big strategic gambit, the Sicilian Expedition of 415 BC, for which he was elected as one of the leaders. Shortly after arrival in Sicily, however, he was recalled to face charges of sacrilege allegedly committed during his pre-expedition reveling. Jumping ship on the return journey, he defected to the Spartans.Alcibiades soon ingratiated himself with the Spartans, encouraging them to aid the Sicilians (ultimately resulting in the utter destruction of the Athenian expedition) and to keep year-round pressure on the Athenians. He then seems to have overstepped the bounds of hospitality by sleeping with the Spartan queen and was soon on the run again. He then played a devious and dangerous game of shifting loyalties between Sparta, Athens and Persia. He had a hand in engineering the overthrow of democracy at Athens in favor of an oligarchy, which allowed him to return from exile, though he then opposed the increasingly-extreme excesses of that regime. For a time he looked to have restored Athens' fortunes in the war, but went into exile again after being held responsible for the defeat of one of his subordinates in a naval battle. This time he took refuge with the Persians, but as they were now allied to the Spartans, the cuckolded King Agis of Sparta was able to arrange his assassination by Persian agents.There has been no full length biography of this colorful and important character for twenty years. Professor Rhodes brings the authority of an internationally recognized expert in the field, ensuring that this will be a truly significant addition to the literature on Classical Greece.
This book analyzes both indigenous and external efforts to develop African countries' individual and collective capacities to undertake peacekeeping operations. It chronicles the participation of African countries in United Nations peacekeeping operations and non-African-led multinational forces over the past 50 years. It also discusses the role of the United Nations in peacekeeping in the region and concludes with recommendations on how to make current approaches more effective--Publisher's description.
This Reader provides a structurally coherent explanation and review of the magnified role conception and organizational task expansion for the Nigerian military establishment in foreign policy. It argues essentially that one of the most problematic and intractable areas of public policy in Nigeria since the Civil War concerns the development of a professional defence establishment adequate to meet the challenges arising from the altered parameters of iour security environment. The correction of this condition is the primary motivation of the Armed Forces modernization and augmentation program that touches upon all elements of Nigeria's military power. This Reader is at once a review and a critique of the major facets of this modernization and augmentation process of the Nigerian armed forces within the operative context of the changing dimension of threat perception and the strategic parameters that have guided Nigerian military planning since the Civil War in 1970.
