Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is mostly associated with the United Nations and traditionally took the form of military forces from neutral countries deployed to supervise a cease-fire between adversaries. Initial UN peacekeeping operations during the Cold War era generally involved a relatively small number of lightly armed troops patrolling a neutral zone separating opposing forces. Impartiality remained the hallmark of these operations, which stressed supervising a political agreement or truce negotiated between warring nations. Troops participating in UN operations served in national contingents under the flag of the United Nations and traditionally donned blue helmets to identify themselves as peacekeepers.

With the end of the Cold War, peacekeeping operations expanded in size and scope, increasingly morphing into peacemaking operations. [Page 1069]Instead of supervising a truce or political settlement, peacemaking ...