| ID | 072895 |
| Title Proper | Beyond the mystery of the Rwanda 'Black Box' |
| Other Title Information | political will and early warning |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Piiparinen, Touko |
| Publication | 2006. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | According to the conventional wisdom of the current debate on peacekeeping, the failures of the UN Security Council in general and in Rwanda in particular can be attributed to an absence, not of early warning systems, but of political will on the part of member states. This article argues against the assertion, advanced in much of the existing literature, that political will outweighed early warning in importance. These two factors were interlinked and cannot therefore be compared as if they existed separately. Instead, a more advanced early warning mechanism would have changed the political context so as to facilitate political will to intervene. At a minimal level, such a positive causal relationship would have enabled non-permanent Council members to acknowledge the genocide prior to UNAMIR's (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) withdrawal and thus to create a political atmosphere of urgency to rescue Rwandans instead of withdrawing troops. |
| `In' analytical Note | International Peacekeeping Vol. 13, No. 3; Sep 2006: p334-349 |
| Journal Source | International Peacekeeping Vol: 13 No 3 |
| Key Words | Rwanda ; Peacekeeping ; United Nations Security Council Failure ; Political Will ; Early Warning Systems |