Document Type

Research Paper

Publication Date

2012

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to examine the efforts of the United Nations in the Post-Cold War era with special emphasis on peacekeeping missions. A comparative study of recent United Nations peacekeeping operations will be completed to identify the variables that encourage or discourage international (UN) involvement in cases of civil conflict. For the purpose of this work, civil conflict will be narrowly defined as a domestic conflict with two major armed groups (ie: civil wars). Two countries will be studied to explore the nature of the respective conflicts, the transitional methods used by the peacekeeping mission to return to and/or institute democratic rule, and the mandates of each mission. Both cases will then be analyzed for similar factors, differing factors, and the effect of these on the peacekeeping mission. A variety of factors can affect United Nations involvement, including but not limited to the interests of influential figures, the economic costs of missions, and the power of advanced first world countries in the United Nations Security Council.

Keywords

Civil war; Civil War (Rwanda: 1994); El Salvador; Peacekeeping forces; United Nations

Disciplines

Comparative Politics | International Law | International Relations | Political Theory

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.


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