The United Nations, conflict management and spheres of interest

Abstract

The initial promise of the UN being able to manage conflicts with the ending of the Cold War has faded. Historically, the ability of the UN to act has been strongly influenced by the interests of its member states, especially the major powers, and a number of factors, such as threat, type of response, limitations on UN action, and degeneration of a situation, have affected the ability of the UN to respond and respond successfully. These and other factors can be organized to define a ‘window of opportunity’ for successful UN action. The ‘window’ concept suggests that in the current era, where most conflicts have little impact on the wider international system, the major powers are likely to be motivated only to manage those conflicts which affect their interests. This will have significant implications for the UN as a conflict manager. Terry Terriff is Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. James Keeley is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary, Canada.