ABSTRACT
Most armed conflicts today are civil wars. For a variety of reasons many peace operations have failed. There have been some genuine attempts at improving the efficacy of UN peace operations since the early 1990s. The UN has often been second only to the USA in terms of the international deployment of troop numbers. The structure is a comparative approach to both the Somalia and Bougainville operations. The erosion of social control mechanisms, the local efforts to re-establish peace, and the wider Somali culture were seriously misunderstood. This positive re-orientation was demonstrated clearly in the way the peace force went about its work in Bougainville. Restorative justice places an emphasis on reintegration that does not destructively shame those who have caused harm. Its pertinence here is emphasized by the emergent values of restorative justice that combine to produce practical and genuine reconciliation. The causes of the conflict and its social dynamics will be a historical miasma to the peacekeepers involved.
