Sustainability of the UN Nation-Building Measures in Post-Mandate Countries

Abstract

The first UN peacekeeping mission was authorized in 1948, during the first Arab- Israeli War. Since then, the peacekeeping missions have been established in many countries, with varying mandates. The existing literature on the subject focuses primarily on the changing nature of the UN missions, over the past 70 years. Moreover, there is considerable literature on the factors that pertain to the gaining of a peacekeeping mandate and how the UN resources are utilized to complete the overall objectives. However, the literature is quite limited in the evaluation criteria and frameworks for peacekeeping and nation-building. Furthermore, the minimal existing literature focuses on evaluating the present-time effectiveness of UN missions, based on their mandated objectives. This paper, therefore, aims to address a prevailing gap in the literature by focusing on evaluating the sustainability of the UN missions. The Diehl and Druckman‘s Framework of peace operations evaluation is used to measure the sustainability of the UN nation-building missions. The cases of UN missions in Liberia (UNMIL), El Salvador (ONUSAL), and Timor-Leste (UNMIT) are considered for this purpose. These countries provide some resemblance with their assigned UN mandate, yet differences exist in their cultures, historical backgrounds, and economic situation. This paper concludes by providing retrospective lessons and potential areas of improvements for future UN missions.