Regional Organizations

Abstract

The UN Charter provides a prominent role for ‘regional agencies or arrangements’ under Chapters VI and VIII. While regional actors played a limited role during the Cold War, the post-Cold War period has witnessed the regionalization of peace operations. Today regional organizations, particularly the African Union, play an equal if not more prominent role on the ground than the UN in peace operations. While the involvement of regional organizations offers several benefits to the overstretched UN, it also carries significant risks. Moreover, unless several proposed reforms are implemented, the effectiveness of UN-regional ‘partnership peacekeeping,’ or hybrid operations, is likely to remain impaired.