by Brian Urquhart

About the author: Brian Urquhart, scholar in residence in the International Affairs Program of the Ford Foundation, is a former undersecretary-general of the United Nations.

The vast expansion of the United Nations’ (UN) peace-keeping commitments has sorely tested the UN’s ability to intervene in violent local conflicts before they get out of hand, as well as its willingness to place soldiers at risk when they do. Though UN forces have achieved major successes in such places as Namibia, El Salvador, and the Golan Heights, they have faced increasing difficulty elsewhere. In Cambodia, lightly armed peace-keepers are shot at, harassed, and even killed with impunity. In Angola, a tiny contingent of UN monitors has been overwhelmed by a rebel army determined to get its way...