Global Policy Forum

Picture Credit: United Nations

The UN Security Council frequently deploys peacekeeping operations as a means to end conflicts or to preserve shaky peace accords.  Today the UN has over 100,000 peacekeeping personnel in the field - mostly soldiers, but also police and civilian advisors, divided among more than a dozen operations.

This website offers Basic Information about peacekeeping, including answers to questions about who initiates, plans and pays for peacekeeping operations.  The site also offers an Index of Specific Countries and Territories where peacekeeping operations are under way, providing links to information about the missions including the difficulties, achievements and controversies surrounding them.

We offer extensive Data Tables on Peacekeeping.   The tables show which countries contribute how many troops and how the overall size of the operations has changed.  There are also detailed tables on Peacekeeping Finance, showing the size of the budgets and who pays what.  Taken together, these tables reveal that the rich countries pay and the poor countries fight.

The site offers Analysis and Articles about peacekeeping from many different angles, including the problem the UN faces in recruiting troops, lack of good equipment, and scandals over criminal behavior of peacekeeping personnel. These problems have periodically led to Peacekeeping Reform, including the intense reform discussions of 2000 and 2008-9.  This section includes also far-reaching proposals, such as arguments in favor of a standing UN peacekeeping force.

There is also material about Lessons from Past Experience as well as complex relations of the UN with Regional Organizations such as NATO and the African Union, which have their own "peacekeeping" missions and priorities.  The site considers the influence of US Policy on UN Peacekeeping and the debate over the activities of the International Criminal Court in relation to peacekeeping.  Finally, there are Peacekeeping Links that connect to other important peacekeeping resources and sites.