Keeping the Peace: From Bosnia to The Sahel

This research has looked to analysis both the evolution and nature of geopolitical conflicts over the past 30 years, and the parallel advancement of long-term humanitarian operations during that period. Long-term United Nations peacekeeping operations have evolved since the end of the Cold-War to be much more political and military in nature. The term humanitarian diplomat is a direct by-product of that evolution. In the first generation of UN peacekeepers, humanitarian actors on the ground were not called on to be political negotiators. However, in the post-Cold War era the role of peacekeeping has shifted to one of peacebuilding within still active conflict areas. This shift demanded that humanitarian missions take on a much more politized role as they were forced to directly negotiate with belligerents on the ground to get supplies and aid convoys to those desperately needing it. Therefore, the findings covered in this research have looked to define the term humanitarian diplomat within the larger political context of emerging multilateralism, geopolitics, and the increasingly multi-polar nature of conflicts in the twenty-first century.