This historical study deals with the deployment and the effectiveness of observers in the former Yugoslavia. The intervention started small, but the number of observers from the European Community... Show moreThis historical study deals with the deployment and the effectiveness of observers in the former Yugoslavia. The intervention started small, but the number of observers from the European Community Monitoring Mission (ECMM) and particularly the number of United Nations Military Observers (UNMOs) grew substantially during the war. The variety of their tasks and the growing number of observers seem to indicate that they played an important role. However, there was initially little clarity about how they were deployed, how this deployment evolved and how effective the observers really were. In this study, effectiveness is a key concept, which involves not only taking a closer look at the results achieved by this category of military personnel, but also comparing those results with the investments their efforts required. This makes it possible to analyse and weigh the 'costs' and 'benefits' of their deployment. Based on the results achieved by observers in the former Yugoslavia and the investment this required, conclusions can be drawn about their effectiveness. In short, the observer operations on the Balkans could be described as complex, multi-faceted and high-risk. How justifiable was it to deploy observers in a conflict at the high end of the spectrum of force? Show less
The United Nations Information Office (UNIO), dating from 1942, holds the distinction of being both the first international agency of the embryonic UN network and the first to hold the United... Show moreThe United Nations Information Office (UNIO), dating from 1942, holds the distinction of being both the first international agency of the embryonic UN network and the first to hold the United Nations label. Run from 1942 to 1945 from two offices in New York and London, these two were merged at the end of World War II to form the UN Information Organisation, and subsequently transformed into the Department of Public Information run from UN headquarters in New York. This article adds to the history of the UN by exploring the origins and development of the UNIO during 1940-41, when it was a British-led propaganda operation to gather US support for the allied war effort. It also examines the UNIO from the viewpoint of the power transition from Britain to the United States that took place during the war, and how this reflected a transition of internationalisms: the British view of world order through benevolent imperialism, to the American view of a progressive campaign for global development and human rights. Show less
