ABSTRACT
In a number of ways, the UN Transition Assistance Group in Namibia (UNTAG) can be seen as a model for the large multilayered peacekeeping operations the UN undertook in the early 1990s. It was the first of the 'second-generation' of peacekeeping operations and exemplified the concept of'wider peacekeeping'. As the publication The Blue Helmets asserts:
The United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) was a political operation, in which the tasks of each element-civilian, police, military - were bonded together in the field under the Special Representative, with a view to achieving a structural change in society by means of a democratic process, in accordance with an agreed timetable. Though it had elements reminiscent of other United Nations field operations, ... it had numerous novel aspects. It did not fit into the traditional mould of peacekeeping operations nor did it follow the pattern of the United Nations previous endeavours in the decolonization process. UNTAG was, in effect, in charge of the process ... 1
