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Reviewed by:
  • UN Peace Operations and Asian Security
  • Vesselin Popovski
UN Peace Operations and Asian Security. Edited by Mely Caballero Anthony and Amitav Acharya. London and New York: Routledge, 2005. Hardcover: 146pp.

The literature on UN peacekeeping has attempted historically to be as holistic and global as possible, to comprehend multiple concepts, and to offer case studies from different continents instead of looking deeper at issues, attitudes, and perspectives from a single region. This volume — the result of co-operation between the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the UN University in Tokyo — aims exactly at filling this gap, presenting in detail and in-depth the Asian regional peacekeeping experience.

The book both reveals the approaches towards UN peace operations by major Asian countries such as Japan and China, and examines the major UN peace operations in Asia such as Cambodia and East Timor. The value of the book therefore is twofold: to examine Asia both as a donor and as a recipient of UN peace support. It situates its findings on Asian security within a comparative global framework and context, taking as guidelines the tendencies and problems offered by the UN Panel on UN Peace Operations (Brahimi) Report (2000), the UN Secretary-General's Report on "Prevention of Armed Conflict" (2001), the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) Report on "Responsibility to Protect" (2001), and other documents.

The result of this approach is that the book contributes to the regional review of UN peacekeeping by suggesting how Asia can benefit from, and play a larger role in the UN operations. Secondly, the book contributes to the development, both conceptual and practical, of some aspects of Asian security, by elaborating on opportunities and modes of external agents' engagement, and by offering insights on the acceptance of innovations, for example, with the changing nature of "human security". The book therefore is an excellent example of how the global approach can interlink with the regional, and as a result of their interaction, both complement each other.

The methodological strategy is to identify the current trends and challenges for the UN peace operations, to cumulate a gradual UN lessons-learning process, and then to weave these trends and processes into the mosaic of historical, political, and cultural specifics of the different Asian countries and sub-regions. The authors follow this path in a remarkable and coherent way — when aiming at revealing their empirical findings, they constantly bear in mind the task to attach their conclusions to the broader development of the global and multi-layered fabric of UN peacekeeping. [End Page 174]

Dipankar Banerjee's chapter on the historical evolution of peacekeeping is both comprehensive and critical. He goes into elaborating seven contemporary peacekeeping challenges, as perceived from Asia, with admirable ability to summarize the essential elements and structure a logical and consistent regional vision. Banerjee concludes by rejecting Michael Glennon's "new interventionism" and reaffirms the Asian tradition of the primacy of the equitable law that must define justice, not the contrary suggestion that the law will follow the powerful, if the cause is just. His final appeal to multilateralism is sound and well articulated.

Kamarulzaman Askandar in a more pragmatic than conceptual way analyses two examples (Aceh and Mindanao) of conflict resolution in Southeast Asia including through efforts to engage ASEAN. He takes the recommendations from the Brahimi and other reports as guidelines to present the opportunities and constraints for UN intervention in Southeast Asia. Askandar realistically accepts that ASEAN may not be able to create its own multinational regional peacekeeping force, and will limit itself to the establishment of a common training centre for the peacekeepers of the regional states. The text is heavily prescriptive (almost every sentence in the conclusion contains the word "need" or "should") with demands and appeals for pro-activity and improvements.

The growing role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in conflict management in Southeast Asia is the main focus of the chapter by See Seng Tan. It looks at the latest institutional developments and searches for the evidential assurance, that the increasing role of NGOs will assist the regional co-operative efforts to de-escalate conflicts. However, the author also expresses uncertainties whether...

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