Winning the peace: strengthening peacebuilding through development and security.

• Author: Nimac, Ivan

It has been metaphorically called the "big handshake" and more frequently described as "the nexus" or "the bridge". The link between security and development has become popularized, but it has concurrently become a matter for conjecture. While roundly acknowledged as a fundamental pillar of the work of the United Nations, development is viewed by some as having been put into peril by drawing a link between it and security. Though this should not detract from the individual significance of either development or security, nuances are important. Development has always been a fundamental concern of the global institution and should continue to be based on ethical concerns. At the same time, experience has shown that sustainable development must be built on sound foundations, a component of which must be the security of individuals and the States in which they live.

In response to the changing nature of threats to international peace and security, the United Nations is seeking ways in which to adequately deal with both old and emerging challenges in order to responsibly fulfil its mandate. Globalization has brought people and States closer together, but it has also made us more dependent on one another for our well-being.

The nineties saw not only a growth in the number of United Nations peacekeeping missions but also in the breadth of their mandates. The traditional role of separating the sides of a conflict and then monitoring in accordance with the terms of the agreement was superseded. There was a gradual unpacking of the concept of State sovereignty and the acceptance that States also have responsibilities towards their citizens. As the decade went on, there was also an exploration of the concept of humanitarian intervention, its partial acceptance and the decline in the use of the veto. Regional interventions have also developed, such as the successful Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands being undertaken under the auspices of the Pacific Islands Forum and at the request of the subject country.

The Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations--a response to the shortcomings of UN peacekeeping/peacebuilding operations in areas such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda and Somalia--made some important conclusions. Also known as the Brahimi Report, named after the Panel's Chairman, Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria, it stressed that the United Nations should not simply take over pre-existing State institutions. It found that such institutions need to be strengthened and sometimes replaced by others, but never by the United Nations. For its part, the world Organization needs a clear vision of the outcomes it sought and a well-defined means of achieving them.

Time and again, the international community has experienced circumstances in which an end to active hostilities has been replaced by a period of neither war nor peace. The "conflict trap", (1) the possibility of relapse into...