ISSUE 47: SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 2007

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New from UNU Press

Unintended Consequences of Peacekeeping Operations

Edited by Chiyuki Aoi, Cedric de Coning and Ramesh Thakur

Peacekeeping operations that deploy large numbers of soldiers, police officers and civilian personnel have various effects on the host society and economy, not all of which are predictable or in keeping with the peacekeeping mandate.

Such unintended consequences are especially serious when they harm the local community, as in the case of sexual abuse and exploitation, corruption or the creation of a false economy. Unintended side-effects can also hinder the mission's ability to achieve its goals.

This book, one of the first attempts to improve our understanding of these impacts, brings together field experience and academic analysis to investigate unintended consequences of peacekeeping operations on individuals and groups, on the host society and economy, and on countries that contribute troops.

The aim is not to discredit peace operations but rather to improve the way in which such operations are planned and managed. The book identifies the need to develop a culture of accountability, which should include institutionalizing processes aimed at anticipating unintended consequences as a routine part of all planning cycles, and the monitoring of effects, including unintended effects, so that proactive steps can be taken to prevent and manage negative side-effects as early as possible.

• Chiyuki Aoi is an Associate Professor of International Politics at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan.
• Cedric de Coning is a Research Fellow at the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), South Africa.
• Ramesh Thakur is a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

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War in Our Time: Reflections on Iraq, Terrorism
and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Ramesh Thakur

Uniquely in the 62-year history of the United Nations, former UNU Senior Vice Rector Ramesh Thakur was given the latitude to write for public consumption on the contested topics of the day, making it clear that he was expressing his personal opinion.

This book brings together a collection of Dr. Thakur's articles from a number of the world's leading newspapers including The Australian, Canberra Times,  Daily Yomiuri, Globe and Mail, The Hindu, International Herald Tribune, and Japan Times. The book's three topics – the Iraq war, the war on terror and weapons of mass destruction – are among the critical issues of our times.

• Ramesh Thakur is Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He previously served as Senior Vice-Rector of United Nations University and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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Regulating Globalization: Critical
Approaches to Global Governance

Edited by Pierre de Senarclens and Ali Kazancigil

Although globalization generates economic growth, it can also lead to excessive concentration of wealth and, in some sectors, increasing inequalities within and between countries. These imbalances are caused by deficient economic, financial, commercial and environmental regulations due to unaccountable, undemocratic, inequitable and ineffective global governance.

This book offers critical historical and forward-looking analysis of global governance and formulates proposals for achieving a more accountable, transparent and participatory global governance system, together with an institutional architecture for regulating globalization that combines economic efficiency and social equity.

• Pierre De Senarclens is Professor of International Relations at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and Vice-President of the Swiss Red Cross. 
• Ali Kazancigil is a political scientist and the Secretary General of the International Social Science Council, Paris, France and formerly UNESCO's Assistant Director General for Social and Human Sciences
  

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Global Multi-level Governance:
European and East Asian Leadership

César de Prado

Since the end of the Cold War, European and East Asian states have enhanced a series of distinct regional and trans-boundary structures and agreements.

The European Union has grown into a remarkable model of peaceful supranational cooperation and countries in Southeast and Northeast Asia are gradually developing the ASEAN+3 process into an East Asian community. Through bilateral, multilateral and especially interregional relationships, both Europe and East Asia are now actively engaging with other regions and the global community.

This book examines the opportunity to sustain peace and prosperity through dynamic, multi-level governance in which individual states engage more effectively in global processes and institutions via broad and connected regional regimes.

De Prado presents four case studies of political, advisory, economic and social multi-level governance centred in Europe and East Asia. He concludes that the convergence of European and East Asian political, economic and social agendas could spur the United States and other powers and regions to engage in global multi-level governance, and reinvigorate multilateral organisations such as the United Nations through effective engagement with these dynamic regional and interregional regimes.

• César de Prado is a Researcher at the University of Tokyo and a visiting professor at the University of Salamanca.

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