Where is the Lone Ranger When We Need Him? : America's Search for a Postconflict Stability Force

A penetrating study of US policy on peace operations, this book examines the challenges of establishing sustainable security in post-conflict environments in places such as the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Robert Perito chronicles the history of American conceptions and misconceptions regarding peacekeeping forces.

Though the United States has played the primary role in organizing and leading post-conflict stability operations, Perito's extensive research and interviews with Washington policy-makers, European diplomats and civilian police and soldiers in the field raise serious questions about how well prepared the United States is for these non-military tasks.

In the book's concluding chapters, Perito calls for the creation of a civilian US Stability Force composed of constabulary, police and judicial teams of lawyers, judges and corrections officers.

Such a force, he argues, could provide an efective post-conflict partner for US military forces.

It could also ensure the likely success of political reconciliation and economic reconstruction by establishing the rule of law quickly and effectively.