United Nations peacekeeping operations: Adapting to new security challenges

Abstract

This year the United Nations (UN) celebrate their 70th anniversary. Experiencing a sort of marginalization due to the dynamics of the bloc divisions, the end of the Cold War brings the reality of unresolved conflicts and a growing number of new ones that are testing the functionality of this organization and the concept of peacekeeping operations. With the evolution of security challenges, especially in the first decade of the 21st century, bringing changes in overall international relations, the United Nations are undergoing a process of adjustment to the new security environment – similar to the process being experienced by the international organizations with significant military and political capacity and role in preserving peace and security, such as the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). In the era of new security threats, the improvement of the peacekeeping operations effectiveness, the use of armed force, adequate technology and intelligence support, purposeful engagement of human and material resources, and the preservation of the physical integrity of the peacekeepers in the conditions of global financial restrictions and the effort worth more than eight billion dollars per year – are all the areas of permanent and critical importance for the success of the UN peacekeeping operations today and in the future.