United Nations Peacekeeping: A Viable Instrument Fifty Years After its Establishment?

Abstract: The United Nations (UN) was founded to save future generations from the horrors of war. Maintenance of peace and security is the highest priority of the Organization and peacekeeping missions are tasked to meet this challenge. The results of peacekeeping have also become a measure according to which the UN is judged by the people it exists to protect. Many circumstances have changed, both in doctrine and in practice, since the formation of the UN but the rules and regulations governing the Organization have remained the same. This master thesis discusses some of the challenges that face the UN in the twenty-first century and evaluates whether the Organization is still an effective tool to safeguard world peace more than half a century after its establishment. The three fundamental principles governing peace operations, consent, impartiality and minimum use of force, have to some extent assumed new meanings to better adapt to changed circumstances in conflict dynamics. Peacekeeping theory is alienating itself from a conservative strict application of these principles to approach a more liberal and humanitarian role of the UN. Over the last decades, the rights of individuals have gained ground at the expense of state sovereignty. However, UN failure such as the genocide in Rwanda shows that the Organization is not a guarantee to avoid conflicts and violations of public international law. The tasks of the Security Council are discussed with an emphasis on its competence under Chapter VII of the UN Charter and an aspiration of assuming legal functions. Despite all the challenges facing the UN, it is argued that peacekeepers do bring about a significant change in world politics in terms of peace agreements and conflict resolution that would not have been possible without the catalyst of the Organization. This thesis is an analysis of the viability of UN peacekeeping fifty years after its establishment.