Political Aspirations and Perils of Security: Unpacking the Military Strategy of the United Nations

Formulating a military strategy is a complex interaction between politicians, strategic commanders and generals. Formulating such a strategy within a multinational organization is even more complex. In this book, Edstrom and Gyllensporre explore a range of case studies, based on UN documents, and individually analyse their de facto military strategy in terms of ends, ways, means, and the interaction between the political strategic level (UN Security Council) and the military strategic level (UN Secretary General). Some 100,000 UN soldiers deployed all over the world not only deserve but need to be properly directed. Military strategy is hence a necessity, not an option. Moreover the military strategy should be percieved as a complementary effort to a robust integrated mission concept, including other instruments than the military.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Is there Utility in Applying Military Strategy? The Evolution of UN Peace Operations Mission in Southern Europe - UNFICYP Mission in the Middle East - UNDOF Mission in the Middle East - UNIFIL Mission in Northern Africa - MINURSO Mission in Central Africa - MONUC/MONUSCO Mission in Western Africa - UNMIL Mission in Western Africa - UNOCI Mission in the Caribbean - MINUSTAH Mission in Eastern Africa - UNMIS/UNMISS Mission in Eastern Africa - UNAMID Linking Political Goals with Military Objectives

About the Author :
HAKAN EDSTROM is Senior Researcher at the Swedish National Defence College and the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands. He is a Research Fellow at Uppsala University, Sweden and his research focuses on security politics and military strategy. DENNIS GYLLENSPORRE is Associate Research Fellow at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Sweden. He holds the rank of Major General and serves as Head of the Policy and Plans Department at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. His research focuses on military strategy.

Review :
"This book is both an advocacy for better burden-sharing peacekeeping efforts and to take better into consideration military expertise. It is indeed high time that we reconcile political commitment with military efficiency." - Dr Alexandra Novosseloff, Senior Researcher at the Centre Thucydide of the University 2, Paris "Political Aspirations and Perils of Security provides a significant contribution to the study of strategic art. It breaks new ground by examining UN peace operations from a military strategic analytical context. The book's case study approach works well and sets up the background for the final discussion of how the UN processes address the fundamentals of strategy [...] This is a valuable work in gathering and synthesizing key thoughts and analysis on UN peacekeeping operations and presenting them in a clear and coherent manner." - Professor William J. Flavin, US Army War College, Carlisle, USA