| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
While most UN peace operations have become large and multidimensional,
UN support to postwar Nepal, the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN),
was authorized as a "focused mission of limited duration." Its lightness
notwithstanding, the mission made a significant contribution by monitoring
the cantonment process, assisting with the elections, and being an active
watchdog of implementation as stipulated in the 2006 peace
agreement. The case study casts doubt on the assumption that international
assistance to peacebuilding can compensate for lack of local capacity.
Nepal did not meet conventional criteria for "local capacity" for
postwar peacebuilding (as, e.g., used by Michael W. Doyle and Nicholas
Sambanis 2006), but a more prominent international role would likely
have been counterproductive by courting Nepalese nationalist reactions
and Indian opposition. A mission carefully calibrated to take account of
these concerns helped keep the peace process on track.
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