Factors of Success in UN Mission Communication Strategies in Post-conflict Settings

Book excerpt: Communication in the broadest sense gains increasing importance in UN peace missions. However, a gap between demand and reality can be observed that points to a multitude of problematic issues. These are taken up by the thesis and it is finally argued: Successful communication strategies need to be aligned to the goals and tasks of the UN mission on all levels in order to be credible; they need to be conflict and context responsive, inclusive and participatory, consider cultural peculiarities and cross vertical as well as horizontal conflict lines. In the tradition of conflict transformative approaches a framework for analysis and evaluation of communication strategies is built and applied to the UN peace missions in Timor-Leste and Nepal. Derived is a dynamic model for the design of communication strategies that covers all relevant fields of action and performances.