Peacekeeping

The guiding principles of peacekeeping, as reflected by the United Nations, are consent of the parties, impartiality, and nonuse of force except in self-defense and defense of the United Nations’ mandate. After World War II, the United Nations peacekeeping forces played an important role. Although the UN Charter did not make any provisions for peacekeeping forces, the organization gradually developed a body of thought and doctrine about peacekeeping.

Contemporary concept and praxis of peacekeeping formulated during the first armed UN field operation in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1956 Suez crisis. Previously, the multilateral organization deployed unarmed UN military observers (UNMOs). The first mission from January through September of 1947 in the Balkans was to ascertain facts of border incidents between Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia.

The ...