William Durch was invited to speak on the United Nations’ role in “international security operations” before a course of 30 US military, foreign military, and US government civilian personnel from the foreign affairs and intelligence community. Starting with basic history and system structure and moving to peace operations in fragile post-conflict environments, Durch stressed how peace operations were embedded in a much larger environment of national and international action; the necessity of peace operations being able to resist violent challenge; but also the inherent limits of international organizations in conducting quasi-combat operations.
