New York University’s Center on International Cooperation recently released The Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2011, a comprehensive monitoring effort that began in 2006. The 2011 Report focuses on managing peacekeeping transitions: defined as the withdrawal of a peacekeeping operation and the handing over of responsibility to national authorities, another international presence, or other regional and local actors.
Overall, global peacekeeping—in terms of total troops, military observers, and police—grew by 32% over the year to reach more than 256,000 peacekeepers in 2010 – compared with nearly 194,000 in 2009. However, despite continued growth, these numbers belie a considerable slowing in the rate of increase for UN peacekeeping operations – reflecting the operational, political and financial pressure to scale down in overall size.
No large-scale multidimensional peacekeeping operations have been mandated in the past four years, and the Report suggests a waning interest by the international community in taking on any new ones. Nevertheless, the need for stabilizing intervention continues in areas like Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia, Haiti, and possibly Libya.
HERE you can read an article by Andrew Sinclair, published in the Journal of International Peace Operations, that summarizes some key findings from the Report
