Failing While Doing

Abstract

Today the UN tries to deal with three different types of conflict with three different types of peacekeeping. The oldest type is classical peacekeeping, which the UN has been doing since 1948. It requires the UN to insert peacekeepers between the armies of two countries that have reached a cease-fire following a war between them over territory. The second type is multidimensional peacekeeping. This is the kind of peacekeeping operation that follows a civil war and is multidimensional because it requires multitasking. The peacekeepers are attempting to help establish a government that has both stability and legitimacy. The third type of peacekeeping is the newest and most difficult. It involves “stabilization,” which means the peacekeepers are expected to protect civilians from abuse by armed factions and also to help extend the government’s control over its own territory. This amounts to peace enforcement rather than peacekeeping and has become common enough that the UN has taken to referring to these actions as “peace operations” rather than peacekeeping since there is generally no peace to keep. All three types of peacekeeping have distinctly different challenges, but all provide sufficient difficulties that the UN can fail.