| Using a case study of the UN's experiences in Croatia, this essay addresses the question of why some UN peace-keeping missions succeed, while others fail.The essay develops wider criteria of success than usually employed in peace-keeping literature and analyzes the performance in Croatia based on these measures. It then takes hypotheses extracted from the international relations literature on peace-keeping and comparative politics literature on civil conflict management and tests them against this case. First, 'international' factors, those related to the UN itself, such as its level of commitment to a mission, and the presence or absence of leadership by a major power, are considered. Second, ?domestic? factors are addressed, including the level of consent and cooperation of the warring parties and the existence of a military stalemate. In light of these findings it is asserted that peace-keeping can indeed be successful when certain necessary and sufficient conditions are met. In Croatia, success seems mostly dependent on the domestic factors. This supports the notion of a 'ripeness' point for resolution |