ABSTRACT
This is another example of the UN carrying out a transition operation to bring a people through to self-determination. Here, for the first time, the UN took on complete responsibility for the administration of a territory. The case of West Irian successfully illustrates the usefulness of peacekeeping combined with mediation in easing the task of decolonization, where legal and political criteria both need to be satisfied. This has been the only UN peacekeeping mission to leave the field promptly and with its mandate entirely fulfilled. At the time, in the mid 1960s, the operation was considered as a triumph for democracy. In subsequent years there has been speculation about the nature of its success and a good number of questions have remained unanswered. It is worth looking at this enterprise in some detail to judge how far high hopes might have soured.
