Introduction

This inquiry grew out of the sense of injustice caused by the lack of action on behalf of the International Community in the face of the worst of crimes: the Rwandan genocide. It appeared at first glance that the finger of blame for this shameful episode pointed clearly in the direction of the United States, and necessarily at the Clinton Administration. Blinded by the possibilities that emerged from the Cold War’s ending and optimistic to a fault regarding the potential of the United Nations and its tool of peacekeeping, the first real post-Cold War American administration set about crafting a new foreign policy. However, disaster in Mogadishu, and perceived public and Congressional pressure, engendered retreat from multilateralism and abandonment of peacekeeping and the UN. This in turn led the US to thwart effective action on the UN Security Council in the spring of 1994.