ABSTRACT
The dramatic increase in peacebuilding activity since the early 1990s and, in particular, the unprecedented range and ambitious nature of the tasks now subsumed under the rubric of peacebuilding, have placed major demands – of a conceptual as well as a more practical kind – on donor countries and international organisations. The history of UN operational activity since the early 1990s is distinguished by a dramatic expansion of the organisation's role in efforts to consolidate peace within societies affected by war and violent conflict. It is possible to be deeply pessimistic about the prospects for the Peacebuilding Commission, a body whose inaugural session was boldly presented as 'a historic milestone in global efforts to help countries avert a relapse into bloodshed after emerging from conflict'. Peacebuilding activities by their very nature involve a large number of actors outside the formal machinery of governments, whether nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) or other civil-society representatives, whose activities require harnessing and coordination.
