Karen_A._Mingst,_Ivan_M._Arregu_n-Toft]_Essentia

feature of world politics and of the United Nations, although the co ali tions have become
more fluid with the rise of the emerging economies.

PeacekeePing

Of the many issues the United Nations confronts, none is as vexing as peace and
security. A new approach, labeled peacekeeping, evolved as a way to limit the scope of
conflict and prevent it from escalating into a Cold War confrontation. Peacekeeping
operations fall into two types, or generations. In traditional peacekeeping, multi­
lateral institutions such as the United Nations seek to contain conflicts between two
states through third­ party military forces. Ad hoc military units, drawn from the
armed forces of nonpermanent members of the UN Security Council (often small,
neutral members), have been used to prevent the escalation of conflicts and to keep the
warring parties apart until the dispute can be settled. Invited in by the disputants, the
troops operate under UN auspices, supervising armistices, trying to maintain cease­ fires,
and physically interposing themselves in a buffer zone between warring parties. Table 7.2
lists some of these traditional UN peacekeeping operations.

TradiTional PeacekeePing

oPeraTions, rePresenTaTive cases

OperatiOn LOcatiOn(s) Du r atiOn strength

UneF i (First

Un emergency

Force)

Suez Canal,

Sinai Peninsula Nov. 1956–^ June 1967 3,378 troops

UnMee (Un

Mission in

ethiopia and

eritrea)

Ethiopia/

Eritrean

border

Sept. 2000– July

2008

3,940 troops;

214 police

UnFicYP (Un

Peacekeeping

Force in cyprus)

Cyprus March 1964– pres ent

861 troops;

55 police;

151 civilians

UniFil (Un

interim Force

in lebanon)

Southern

Lebanon March 1978–^ pres^ ent

10,521 troops;

848 civilians

Source: United Nations.

Table 7.2

220 CHAPTER SEvEN ■ igo s, inTernaTional law, and ngos