The UN's record in peace operations is long, various, distinguished by both accomplishments and failures, and most importantly, innovative. Unfulfilled expectations and escalating violence in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia forced retrenchment upon UN peace operations_but at the same time, a new opportunity to enhance capacities, review strategies, redefine roles, and reaffirm responsibilities has opened up. Here, a dynamic group of leading diplomats, academics, and journalists combines forces with UN policymakers and leaders including current Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to explore how the international community can improve its practice in negotiating and implementing peace. They look at what works and what doesn't in UN peacemaking and peacekeeping, and then map out alternative futures for UN action in the 21st century.

Contributions by: Kofi A. Annan, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Michael W. Doyle, Jan Eliasson, Gareth Evans, Thomas M. Franck, François Heisbourg, Ismat Kittani, Ali A. Mazrui, Edward Mortimer, Sadako Ogata, Olara A. Otunnu, Adam Roberts, John Roper, Salim Ahmed Salim, J M. Sanderson, Brian Urquhart