Peacebuilding

This chapter brings the story of DPA–DPKO relations up to the present. It argues that neither the bureaucratic nor the conceptual problems faced by UNAMIR—especially the difficulty of separating peacekeeping from peacebuilding—have been fully addressed, let alone solved. The chapter picks up the DPA–DPKO confrontation at the time of Kofi Annan’s elevation to SG and considers the changes that he (from 1997) and Ban Ki-moon (from 2007) introduced to tackle the difficult relations between DPA and DPKO. Annan’s response to this rivalry was the ‘Lead Department’ concept, whereas Ban—following a trend in post-9/11 international relations—prioritized peacebuilding and DPA over peacekeeping and DPKO. Since one of the key reasons behind their bureaucratic friction lies with the porous borders between peacekeeping and peacebuilding, it is unsurprising that the partial strengthening of DPA in 2008–09—well intentioned though it was—failed to solve the problem.