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A regional dimension to peace operations: European contributions to the UN and implications for Turkish co-operation and co-ordination

A novel feature of the post-Cold War era is the changing nature of the methods employed by states and international organizations when dealing with conflicts. Western states, in tandem with their partners and allies, have long been seeking to align and harmonize their strategic perceptions in various international organizations in order to achieve synergy in tackling a plethora of multi-faceted crises. Although the UN – having the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security – is now freed from the Cold War plague of ideologically used veto power in the Security Council among its five permanent members, its institutional capabilities to launch and maintain peace operations to stop post-Cold War multi-faceted intra-state and ethnic conflicts were proved inadequate in the Balkans, the former Soviet Union and Africa. The institutional impotency of the UN system led to a grave loss of its perceived legitimacy and authority as a powerful conflict mediator in maintaining international peace. Innovative analysis and practical recommendations are therefore necessary to strengthen existing UN capacity and to make the UN system efficient – more or less – within the framework and provisions of the Charter and are urgently needed in a rapidly changing world. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the UN system is internally undergoing a major reform process, as well as facing enormous external challenges in the field of peace operations. In the light of these sea changes in the UN system, given that European regional actions in peace operations will invariably be consistent with, and in many cases complementary to, decisions and frameworks developed by the UN, the need for effective EU complementarity with the UN is indispensable. This article will first look at the necessity for a regional dimension to peace operations with a special focus on the ambiguity of the UN Charter’s provisions about the issue of “regional arrangement”. Second, the central role of EU–UN co-operation will be analyzed from the perspective of the EU’s intention to make a significant material Defense & Security Analysis Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 399–412, December 2005