The UN peacekeeping system: from theory to practice

Abstract

This article examines the key problems of the evolution and functioning of United Nations peacekeeping in the post-bipolar period. On the example of peacekeeping missions after 1990 and key documents in the field of peacekeeping operations, an assessment is given of the challenges facing the UN both at the stage of defining the mandate of operations and in the field of their financing. Based on the position of the United States of America regarding the payment of contributions to the UN budget, the imperfection of the mechanisms for financing UN peacekeeping is demonstrated and the negative consequences for the system of peacekeeping operations as a whole are highlighted. Today, UN peacekeeping is becoming multifunctional, with the main focus gradually shifting to the problems of conflict prevention and peace-building. At the same time, such a change of priorities exposes the problems inherent in the very architecture of UN peacekeeping, primarily related to the definition of the mandate and politicization of the activities of the Secretariat and the financing of missions. In connection with the departure from the traditional function of maintaining the ceasefire, costs are increasing, and non-payment by member countries, such as the United States, of contributions to the budget of operations entails a decrease in their effectiveness. It seems to us that the solution to the above—mentioned problems lies in the continuation of the UN reform process, especially in the field of approving the military part of the mandate and creating a single budget of the OPM integrated into the general UN budget. If there is the political will of the member countries, this process seems to us quite feasible and follows in line with the reform of the UN peacekeeping of the last thirty years.