Historical Dictionary of Multinational Peacekeeping: (Historical Dictionaries of International Organizations)

As long as there have been wars, there have been peace processes to settle them. In the 12th century BC, the Egyptians and Hittites concluded one of the earliest peace treaties still in existence. Peacekeeping as understood as a modern concept emerged out of the League of Nations after World War I. The League fielded many international military operations that were essentially deployments by the victorious Allied powers to oversee local plebiscites. Peacekeeping operations have evolved to become essential elements in most international attempts to guide belligerents through a peace process. Peacekeeping operations can be great examples of the international community cooperating to help settle a crisis. Historical Dictionary of Multinational Peacekeeping: Third Edition is a single source research guide for current and completed peacekeeping operations. With an extensive chronology; an introductory essay; an appendix with the mandates for three UN peacekeeping operations; a research oriented bibliography based on numerous categories of peacekeeping operations and issues related to peacekeeping; 32 photographs of UN, EU, and NATO peacekeeping operations; and over 500 cross referenced dictionary entries on peacekeeping operations, people, organizations, countries, and events associated with peacekeeping and brief descriptions of all currently fielded operations as well as those that have completed their missions dating back to the League of Nations in 1920.

About the Author :
Terry M. Mays is professor of Political Science at The Citadel, where he teaches courses in peacekeeping, international organizations, and African politics.

Review :
Unfortunately, the need for multinational peacekeeping operations continues to grow, necessitating a third revision and expansion of this work, which first appeared in 1996 (2nd ed., CH, Jun'04, 41-5669; 1st ed., CH, Apr'97, 34-4211). In this third edition by Mays (The Citadel), the updated introductory essay, the chronology, and the appendix are as well done and as helpful as they were in the first edition. The dictionary entries themselves are extensive and quite well written. The excellent select bibliography of English-language material is thorough, as far as it goes. The introduction to the bibliography discusses Internet resources. Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates; general readers. This is the twenty-ninth entry in the Historical Dictionaries of International Organizations series and is a third edition. Author Mays, a professor of political science at the Citadel, teaches specialized courses on multinational peacekeeping and international organizations. His stated goal for this work is 'to present enough information on the major multinational operations to allow readers to cut through any confusion and gain a better understanding of the military missions fielded since 1920.' An introduction explains peacekeeping and discusses functions of peacekeeping missions, mandating organizations, and peacekeeping trends and issues. A very helpful feature is the 12-page section that defines the acronyms and abbreviations used throughout the dictionary. The chronology runs from 1920 through January 2010. The 500-plus entries range in length from one sentence to a full page and cover peacekeeping operations, key military and civilian individuals, political crises requiring intervention by peacekeeping operations, international organizations, and specific events during the multinational missions. There are numerous see and see also references. An appendix contains three examples of peacekeeping mandates. A select but comprehensive bibliography completes the volume. Also included are 32 photographs pertaining to UN, EU, and NATO missions....The bibliography has been updated....As more than 81 new peacekeeping missions have occurred between December 2001 and January 2010 alone, it is a major undertaking to bring all of this information together concisely in one volume. This would be a good purchase for academic libraries in particular.