From Peacekeeping to Peacebuilding? South African Policy and Practice in Peace Missions.

South Africa's conceptualization of its participation in peace missions' has been largely defined by a White Paper in 1999 that evolved from a militaristically-oriented document to a normative framework for peacebuilding activities with a significant civilian element. This reflected the eventual participation of civil society groups and `think tanks' in the formulation of South African policy. The government's challenge was to flesh out the policy, to institutionalize it and implement the White Paper's principles. The intervention in Lesotho in 1998 provided important warnings and lessons concerning South Africa's increasingly prominent regional and continental role, raising issues that need to be addressed if the practice of intervention is to match the sophisticated articulation of peace mission policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]