The UN's role in nation-building: from the Congo to Iraq

Abstract

The first volume of this series dealt with the American experience with nation-building, defined therein as the use of armed force in the aftermath of a crisis to promote a transition to democracy. It examined eight instances in which the United States took the lead in such endeavors. This volume deals with the United Nations' experience with comparable operations, examining eight instances in which the United Nations led multinational forces toward generally similar ends. For the United States, post-Cold War nation-building had distant precursors in the American occupations of Germany and Japan in the aftermath of World War II and its role in fostering the emergence of democratic regimes there. For the United Nations, the comparable precursor was in the early 196Os in the newly independent Belgian Congo. The Republic of the Congo failed almost from the moment of its birth. Within days of the Congo's independence its army mutinied, the remaining white administrators fled, the administration and the economy collapsed, Belgian paratroops invaded, and the mineral-rich province of Katanga seceded. These developments cast a serious shadow over the prospects for the successful and peaceful completion of Africa's decolonization, at that point just gathering momentum. On July 14, 1960, acting with unusual speed, the Security Council passed the first of a series of resolutions authorizing the deployment of UN-led military forces to assist the Republic of the Congo in restoring order and, eventually, in suppressing the rebellion in Katanga.

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