The concept of preventive diplomacy has captivated the United Nations since it was first articulated by Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld a half-century ago. Successive generations of diplomats and statesmen have invested in the idea that diplomatic efforts might be able to head off international conflicts and disasters. Dramatic successes, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, contrast with dramatic failures, such as the inability of UN efforts to halt the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In this careful study, distinguished former UN civil servant Bertrand G. Ramcharan traces the history of the practice of preventive diplomacy by UN Secretaries-General, the Security Council, and other UN organizations, and assesses the record of preventive diplomacy and examines its prospects in an age of genocide and terrorism.

A new investigation into Hammarskjöld's role in the decolonisation of Africa during the Cold War offers startling conclusions.

"Perhaps the greatest testament of personal devotion published in this century." — The New York Times A powerful journal of poems and spiritual meditations recorded over several decades by a universally known and admired peacemaker. A dramatic account of spiritual struggle, Markings has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers since it was first published in 1964. Markings is distinctive, as W.H. Auden remarks in his foreword, as a record of "the attempt by a professional man of action to unite in one life the via activa and the via contemplativa." It reflects its author's efforts to live his creed, his belief that all men are equally the children of God and that faith and love require of him a life of selfless service to others. For Hammarskjöld, "the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action." Markings is not only a fascinating glimpse of the mind of a great man, but also a moving spiritual classic that has left its mark on generations of readers.

Drawing from little explored archives and personal correspondence, chronicles the life of the second secretary general of the United Nations who was killed in 1961 while en route to ceasefire negotiations in the Congo.

Humanitarian professionals are on the front lines of today's internal armed conflicts, working with politicians and diplomats in countries wracked by violence, in capitals of donor governments that underwrite humanitarian work, as well as within the United Nations Security Council and providing information to the media. This publication sets out a compendium of essays written by 14 senior humanitarian practitioners who led humanitarian operations in settings as diverse as the Balkans and Nepal, Somalia and East Timor, and across a time frame from the 1970s in Cambodia and 1980s in Lebanon to more recent engagement in Colombia and Iraq.

As the 1990s place greater demands on the UN, this inspiring biography shows how Hammarskjold perfected the active but quiet diplomacy that proved successful in a series of seemingly hopeless situations, from the Suez Crisis to Indochina, and how he stood up for principle against the greatest powers. Photos.

This book provides a broad overview of what peace research is all about by an author who has been involved in the field for more than half a century. Among other things it gives a unique review of how peace research emerged in Sweden as the author was a key actor in the most crucial events during this formative period. The book also portrays how the discipline has grown from an initial focus on “alternatives to war” to the comprehensive study of the many dimensions of a “lasting and positive peace”. The author's own work covers causes of war, sanctions, conflict resolution, conflict data, mediation, and quality peace. They demonstrate the range of topics that have to be understood for a peace with quality. This is exemplified by some of the author's writings specifically selected for this volume plus a few ones original to it. Some accounts of the author's involvements in actual peace processes in the 1990s are also included. This publication offers a substantial contribution to understanding the evolution of peace research as a field and is an important reading for scholars, policy makers, journalists, students and any aspiring peace researcher as well as for the public at large. • Peter Wallensteen is a global pioneer of peace research due to his involvement in the creation of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University ¬– a major center in the field. He served as Head of Department from 1972 to 1999. • Peter Wallensteen set up and directed the well-known Uppsala Conflict Data Program, UCDP, the global resource for the study of armed conflicts and peace negotiations, 1978-2015. • Peter Wallensteen was the first holder of the Dag Hammarskjöld Chair in Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, 1985-2012. • He was also the first holder of the position as the Richard G. Starmann Sr. Research Professor of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, USA, 2006-2018.