Development and democratisation keys to peace

The character of UN peacekeeping has changed since the end of the Cold War, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in Dublin last week. Peacekeeping can no longer be seen in isolation - the traditional deployment of blue helmets to monitor an agreed ceasefire - but as a variety of “closely interrelated tasks” stretching from conflict prevention, conflict resolution, to post-conflict peace building. Annan, speaking at the National University of Ireland after receiving an honorary degree, said: “Social justice and material well-being may not be absolute guarantors of civil peace, but they certainly make its preservation a lot easier.”

He said the UN had started to embrace a new concept of security, by trying to promote both development and democratisation as part of a comprehensive strategy known as “preventive peace building”. Annan stressed the UN has two intimately related goals - peace and development: “If we are serious about conflict prevention, we must take action in the economic and social field that brings real hope to those who are at present denied it.”