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During the Cold War period, some peacekeeping operations won the political support of a majority of member states of the General Assembly. Peacekeeping troops are directly under the UN command besides under the direction of national commanders.
3.Evaluation of the UN Peacekeeping Operations
The end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union have not brought the world to peace and security. On the contrary, more ethnic and nationalist conflicts than ever have occurred, some of which have even escalated to wars. The UN peacekeeping is on the rise. Since the end of the Cold War, the number of troops involved in peacekeeping operations dramatically increased from 10,000 in 1987 to almost 80,000 in late 1993. The cost of the UN peacekeeping operations also skyrocketed from $480 million in 1991 to $3 billion in 1993. (Benton 1996, p149) But have all these peacekeeping operations brought peace to the world?
There have been disputes as to the evaluation of the UN peacekeeping operations because each peacekeeping operation has its unique mission and it is difficult to set up commonly accepted criteria. Diehl proposes two norms to follow: the limitation of armed conflict and conflict resolution. (Diehl 1994, p34) These norms invite criticism and are considered “seemingly straightforward” and “surprisingly difficult to apply in practice”. (Durch 1996, p17) I think these criteria are logically and reasonably acceptable.
First, peacekeeping troops are established and deployed for the purpose of maintenance of peace and order in the areas of conflict. No doubt the success of the troops is determined by their ability to prevent violence and conflicts and minimize the death and destruction in the areas of their deployment. In the case of observer troops like in Cambodia, peaceful election and national reconciliation must be considered when we evaluate the peacekeeping missions. If they fail to achieve the objectives they are totally failure.
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