Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book concerns operations in Eastern Slavonia, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor, but it draws on relevant antecedent experiences as well, including the International Control Commission for Albania, the League of Nations administration of the Saarland, the Allied occupation of Germany and Japan, the United Nations administration of trusteeship territories and various UN peace operations. With the end of the Cold War, the vast majority of major armed conflicts, averaging 28 a year, have been of an internal nature, giving rise to brutal atrocities and rendering some states incapable of performing even the most basic governmental functions. 'Unilateral' interventions of a humanitarian nature, by the Nigerian-led Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Liberia; France, Britain and the United States in northern Iraq; and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Yugoslavia, have attracted broad international support.