A critical year in the history of peacekeeping, 1995 saw the dramatic transformation of the role of United Nations' forces in Bosnia from a protective force to being an active combatant under NATO leadership. Phillip Corwin, the UN's chief political officer in Sarajevo during the summer of that year, presents an insider's account of the momentous events that led to that transformation. "Dubious Mandate" interweaves personal experiences of daily life in a war zone--supply shortages, human suffering, assassination attempts, corruption--with historical facts, as Corwin challenges commonly held views of the war with his own highly informed, discerning, and trenchant political commentary.
Sympathetic to the UN's achievements, yet skeptical of its acquiescence to the use of military force, Corwin is critical both of the Bosnian government's tactics for drawing NATO into the conflict and of NATO's eagerness to make peace by waging war. He challenges the popular depiction of the Bosnian government as that of noble victim, arguing that the leaders of all three sides in the conflict were "gangsters wearing coats and ties." Highly caustic about Western reportage, he examines the policies of various Western political and military leaders and gives a detailed account of a pivotal phase of the war in Bosnia, a period that culminated with NATO's massive bombing of Bosnian Serb targets and ultimately led to the Dayton Peace Agreement. Without a proper understanding of this critical period, he argues, it is difficult to understand the greater scope of the conflict. Corwin also offers insightful portraits of some of the leading players in the Bosnian drama, including Yasushi Akashi, the UN's top official in the former Yugoslavia in 1994-95; General Rupert Smith, the British commander in Sarajevo in 1995; and Hasan Muratovic, a future Bosnian prime minister.
Capturing the essence of a tense and difficult time, "Dubious Mandate" will interest diplomats, politicians, military personnel, scholars, and those still trying to fathom the continuing mission of the United Nations and the unfolding of events in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s.
Industry Reviews
"The most illuminating of the latest additions to the burgeoning Balkan library is the short memoir by Phillip Corwin, who spent much of 1995 in Sarajevo as an American UN official. He describes what it was like to be there with brutal honesty and attacks all the participants with a sharp pen. "The leaders of all the factions in Bosnia," he writes, "were merely gangsters wearing coats and ties. The world community knew it, but seldom admitted it publicly." As the corruption at the heart of the wretched Bosnian state is now revealed for all to see, it is refreshing to be reminded that some people read the writing on the wall at the time"--Richard Gott, New Statesman, 6 September, 1999 "The largely untold 'other side' of the story focussing on the role of the Bosnian government is written with intense verve by a dedicated UN international civil servant coping with deep distrust, ethnic cleansing, cruelty, threats, and war. Corwin's service was in the tradition of Ralph Bunche, whose dedication to the UN and its charter set an example of integrity and commitment for other UN officials serving in peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations." (Dr. Joseph J. Sisco, Chairman of the Academy of Diplomacy and former Under Secretary of State ) "Philip Corwin's meticulous account of events in Bosnia shatters the well constructed myth of 'one victim one enemy.' With unsalable attention to detail and a sense of duty, this dedicated UN official unveils the behavior of senior Bosnian officials and their callous disregard of their own people's suffering. The author modestly presents his memoir as a 'source book, without which a thorough history of Bosnia cannot be written.' I may add, this is a first hand account that policymakers, too, will be well advised to read before they substitute images for reality in formulating policies and before they dispatch more American soldiers to distant places to settle civil wars that local demagogues have caused in their pursuit of power and greed." (Donald M. Payne, U.S. House of Representatives, New Jersey) "Philip Corwin's book provides a useful antidote to the numerous portrayals of the war in Bosnia as a tidy melodrama featuring Serb aggressors and Muslim victims. Corwin's account of his role in Bosnia as an official of the United Nations offers graphic evidence that the political leaders of all three factions-including the Muslim-dominated government in Sarajevo-were corrupt, brutal, and manipulative. Although readers might justifiably question his positive assessment of the UN's performance, Corwin's first-hand observations will be valuable to anyone who wants to gain a greater understanding of the complex events in the former Yugoslavia." (Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense & Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute)
