International Peacekeeping: A Critique of the United Nations’ Operational Procedures

International Peacekeeping has been a polarizing topic since becoming established as a
mainstay in United Nations policy. Although international involvement of this sort is bound to be
vulnerable to situational complications, the consistency of the UN’s failures makes it impossible
to ignore the fundamental issues engrained in its standard operating procedures. This thesis
analyses a number of key UN peacekeeping operations that resulted in varying degrees of
success as well as the general assessments that have been developed in response to these
operations. Based upon an analysis of these cases as well as the literature on the issue of UN
Peacekeeping, the thesis identifies the common problems in Peacekeeping operations and traces
their evolution to the foundational elements of the UN Peacekeeping program combined with the
evolving types of Peacekeeping missions undertaken.