Managing Partnership

Due to the proliferation of actors involved, the expansion in mandated tasks, and the general complexity of conflict dynamics, partnerships are increasingly a fact of life for UN peace operations. However, partnership creates additional challenges – strategic ambiguity, an over-emphasis on process, weakened command and control and unequal burden-sharing – that cannot be eliminated, but rather need to be managed. This article suggests a framework to help guide the UN towards applying specific approaches – power, management, leadership or culture – depending on the varying level of agreement between two partners, with the goal of making partnership more manageable.