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Reading Room

The environment in which peacekeeping and conflict exist is constantly changing. Researchers and academics publish regularly and staying up to date on all the current trends and issues can be challenging.

The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre features publications that address topics that are relevant to our mission of making peace operations more effective through research, education, training and capacity building.

The titles are chosen by Pearson Peacekeeping Centre staff members with direct experience in the peacekeeping field.

Stephen C. Schlesinger, Art of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations

Central to our understanding of what has traditionally been called peacekeeping is the role played by the United Nations.  And at the heart of this institution is its remarkable Charter, essentially unchanged in over 6o years.  Schlesinger’s Art of Creation is the  amazing story of how the UN Charter was born.  Although written from the perspective of the United States, Art of Creation brings together the many various stories that led to the formation of the UN and the many battles to produce what has become a lasting Charter.  The courage of Harry Truman, the fight to counter the Soviet Union and the background to the inclusion of what may seem arcane articles (think Chapter VIII Regional Arrangements) are presented in a clear, yet entertaining style.  It is a must read for students of the UN and its most famous legacy – peacekeeping.

Pearson’s Peacekeepers: Canada and the United Nations Emergency Force, 1956-67 by Michael K. Carroll (UBC Press, 2009)

The story of the United Nations first inter-positional or classic peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Emergency Force or UNEF, is the foundation upon which the myth of Canada as a peacekeeper is built.  In his study of this ground-breaking mission, Carroll presents a thorough review of all of the facets of this operation.  Starting with a description of the international events that would eventually result in the Nobel Peace prize being awarded to Lester B. Pearson, Carroll reminds us that Pearson’s actions were not universally acclaimed in Canada.  Nevertheless, it became politically popular to support peacekeeping even when the Conservatives were elected in 1957.  Carroll highlights the failure of the Security Council to deal with the Suez crisis as well as the role of the General Assembly in authorizing UNEF.  Plagued during its existence by financial crisis after financial crisis, UNEF nevertheless managed to “keep the peace” for over ten years.  Carroll does a wonderful job of reminding us that we can learn much about present peacekeeping by understanding its past and UNEF is where it all started.

The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Jonathan Schneer (Bond Street Books, 2010)

Throughout the history of the United Nations, the Arab-Israeli conflict has never been far from centre stage.  The first UN military observers deployed into the region in 1948 and their successors are still there.  Jonathan Schneer in his excellent and enjoyable history of the Balfour Declaration addresses the origins of the conflict; they are still subject to debate and discussion today.  The rise of Zionism and the birth of Arab nationalism against the backdrop of the failing Ottoman Empire and mixed by British complicity in a desire to retain control of the Middle East are the crucial elements of the tale.  Schneer brings it alive with the introduction of the players, many of these characters that only history can deliver.  The UN has been involved in the conflict for over 60 years.  Schneer’s The Balfour Declaration will help explain why it will be there for years to come.