1971 - Dr. Rosalyn Higgins and Brigadier Michael Harbottle - United Nations Peacekeeping: Past Lessons and Future Prospects

In this lecture, Dr. Rosalyn Higgins and Brigadier Michael Harbottle spoke on the issue of United Nations Peacekeeping. Dr. Higgins reviewed the legal basis for peacekeeping and some of its controversies, especially among those states who believed in a much more limited role. She argued, using historical examples, that despite these reservations, peacekeeping has been driven by pragmatism that prevented vetoes against certain peacekeeping missions from being used in the Security Council. She discussed the controversies over the role of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in peacekeeping, with the Soviets trying to limit the position’s role in favour of the Security Council. She expressed some dismay at the financial problems peacekeeping faces given the voluntary nature of the current funding process. She looked at the role of host government consent and explored ways in which reports from the field could come back to the United Nations. Brigadier Harbottle claimed that since its inception, peacekeeping had more successes than it had failures. He noted that those critical of the process generally have a broader understanding of peacekeeping - to both provide a peaceful settlement and resolve the conflict - than their mandate generally gives them, and provided historical examples of how the mission was successful but politics created a problem. He gave some suggestions to improve the service, including how to successfully operationalize Russian calls for the Security Council to control missions, the creation of a built-in early warning system in the United Nations, and some practical matters on preparedness and organisation for the different set of rules peacekeepers operate under.