ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a strategy for effective political communication for and by international organizations, which allowed to design a set of principles of communication for peacekeeping operations. Theories about the decision-making process in political bureaucracies are plentiful, even though they relate mostly to the national context, or the foreign policies of individual countries. A vital aspect of the communications process in peacekeeping missions is the interaction between peacekeepers on the one hand, and the host country on the other. Formally speaking, this relationship is often regulated by a Status of Forces Agreement, which codifies the legal position of the mission and of its members. For peacekeeping operations with wide-ranging mandates, communication with the population over the introduction of the goals is absolutely vital. Communication difficulties are often exacerbated by the fact that the new generation of peacekeeping operations impose their – or the international community's – values in the area in which they are deployed.
