Comprehensive in scope, and up to date in its coverage, this book provides an excellent account of the development of international peacebuilding and peacekeeping operations. It shows how these operations have emerged and changed over time and provides vital context for understanding contemporary challenges and new developments. It also offers new ways of evaluating international efforts to build stable peace ... Read morein some of the world's most difficult and dangerous places. New students and old hands alike will benefit from reading this important new volume. Alex Bellamy, Griffith University With what is more than an updated historical primer on peace operations, Diehl and Balas have done a masterful job of differentiating peacekeeping and peacebuilding, synthesizing the most recent quantitative findings on correlates of success and identifying the future challenges for policymakers. All is accomplished in a highly accessible book. Karen A. Mingst, University of Kentucky This book by Paul Diehl and Alexandru Balas provides comprehensive and thought-provoking coverage of the contemporary practice of peace operations. Through a combination of academic insights and historical examples, the authors synthesise the evolution of peace operations and critically asses their record since the creation of the United Nations. Diehl and Balas have not chosen the easy path of simply providing a copy of the first edition of this book, published in 2008. Instead, the authors clearly take stock of the constantly morphing nature of peace operations. The synthesising capacity of this book makes it a strong resource for scholars to draw from and further build upon. Its combination of theory and practice will have the reader return to this book time and time again, making it a must-have for every scholar studying peace operations. Political Studies Review Show Less