Publisher's Synopsis
No United Nations action has received as much international attention in recent years as its attempts at peacekeeping. The demise of the Cold War provided new opportunities for the UN to bring peace to war torn countries and humanitarian assistance to civilian populations suffering as a consequence. However, new challenges have brought new problems and highlighted old inadequacies in the manner in which the Organisation conducts its peacekeeping operations. - - This book introduces the reader to the concept of peacekeeping through an analysis of its evolution over nearly fifty years of practice. Beginning with an explanation of the legal foundations, principles and nature of peacekeeping as it developed in the early post-war period, it continues to examine the transition from the limited peacekeeping efforts of the Cold War to the expanded activity of the immediate post-Cold War period, through to the international communityÆs re-evaluation of the OrganisationÆs ability to bring peace to conflict ridden states in the mid-1990Æs. In so doing it examines every significant instance of UN peacekeeping, while focussing on the main themes of the rise and fall of international commitment to its practice. Also included in the text are suggestions for further reading whilst its appendices contain extracts from key peacekeeping documentation.
