Peacekeeping Operations

Multinational forces dispatched by the United Nations Security Council to observe, monitor, report on, and, in the post–Cold War era, enforce cease-fires established in the wake of inter-and intranational conflicts. Peacekeeping operations have been launched in a number of regions in the world over the course of the past half century.

History of Multinational Peacekeeping

The United Nations (UN) was founded in the wake of World War II to establish a system of collective security to address interstate conflict and to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The UN Charter empowers the United Nations, through the Security Council, to take actions it deems necessary to address situations that pose a threat to international peace and security, manifested in conflict among nations. The council's practice of dispatching missions, known as peacekeeping operations, to conflict situations, is founded in this provision.

The first peacekeeping operations dispatched by the United Nations were cease-fire monitoring missions. These first took place at the conclusion of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, and the second followed the cessation of fighting between India and Pakistan in 1949 over the state of Jammu and Kashmir. For the next 40 years, peacekeeping operations would follow the formula set down in these initial efforts. Missions required not only the consent of the two states involved in the conflict but also that of the then two rival superpowers engaged in the Cold War—the United States and the Soviet Union. Because both nations possessed veto power in the Security Council, it was impossible to dispatch a mission into conflicts in which the combatants were proxies for either superpower.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a new era in the development and practices of peacekeeping. The end of direct U.S.–Soviet rivalry, and unrest caused by ethnic tensions in formerly Soviet-controlled states, led to greater cooperation in the Security Council. Both the number and the nature of peacekeeping missions intensified in the 1990s. Without the constant threat of an automatic veto by one of the superpowers, the Security Council's ability to dispatch peacekeeping missions expanded significantly.

The United Nations defines peacekeeping today as “a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace.” This definition reflects the evolution that has taken place within peacekeeping since its first days, when missions were limited to observing preestablished cease fires or pacts. It recognizes the fact that more than simple monitoring is required to establish and maintain peace in complex conflict situations. Planners and reviewers at all levels in the United Nations recognized the fact that addressing conflict successfully and sustainably requires a more complex and multifaceted approach. This realization produced today's more diverse peacekeeping missions, which incorporate conflict resolution, diplomacy, development work, and human-rights and truth commissions into the process.

Issues in Peacekeeping

Under the UN Charter, member states of the United Nations agree to provide resources in the form of armed forces, money, and rights of passage to missions deemed necessary by the Security Council. In this way, all member states have the ability and the duty to participate in peacekeeping operations. Generally, missions are composed of multinational forces under rotating command.

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