Soldiers of diplomacy : the United Nations, peacekeeping, and the new world order / Jocelyn Coulon ; translated by Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A unique, thought-provoking investigation based on visits to nine recent peacekeeping missions and interviews with dozens of soldiers, officers, and peacekeeping officials.

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CHOICE Review

Coulon's monograph, an updated and translated version of a work first published in French five years ago, details the evolving role of United Nations peacekeeping since the end of the Cold War. Its primary strengths are its unique and original source material, drawn from extensive 1993 interviews with mission participants at all levels from twelve countries and seven peacekeeping missions. These interview data render the work not only insightful and analytic but also quite a pleasure to read, since so many of the arguments are supported with anecdotal illustrations. Structurally, the book provides a brief history of UN peacekeeping missions during the Cold War period, before proceeding to its main focus--detailed case studies of recent UN operations in Cambodia, Western Sahara, Somalia, and Bosnia. The concluding chapters tackle larger issues such as the pursuit of UN versus great power interests, the debate over a standing UN peacekeeping army, and the lessons to be learned from recent peacekeeping challenges and failures. Useful appendixes chart UN peacekeeping missions through late 1994 and provide the text of relevant sections of the UN Charter. Recommended for all levels. W. W. Newmann; Virginia Commonwealth University