United Nations (UN) peace operations currently face a crisis of confidence. No large mission has been launched in over a decade, existing missions struggle to implement their mandates, and the UN is increasingly marginalized from political processes.
Although geopolitical divisions are a factor, the structures, processes, and mindsets of the Secretariat are also to blame. Despite successive attempts at reform over the years, challenges identified over numerous reviews in recent decades persist.
This report examines why previous reform initiatives have floundered. It then examines four persistent challenges affecting peace operations today—the erosion of the primacy of politics, the distinction between peacekeeping operations and special political missions, templated mandates, and the absence of meaningful accountability for military and police performance—to identify why these problems exist and what practical measures can be taken by member states and the Secretariat to overcome them.
