Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows how the United Nations (UN) should monitor and evaluate the impact of police in its peace operations. It presents that enhanced Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), drawing on and embracing the 'spirit of epistemological uncertainty', entrenching flexibility and embedded in holistic mission management framework, can lead to more effective organisational learning and, in turn, to more efficacious peace operations. Research on police in peace operations often points to the lack of effective M&E as an enduring challenge in the realm of international policing producing knowledge gaps and accountability deficits. The book offers an antidote to the frailties of current orthodoxy and presents the opportunity for improved practice for UN Police (UNPOL) in peace operations, as well as related fields. It focuses on identifying the structural and political factors that enable or inhibit organisation-wide processes of learning.