Internationalism and the quest for peace: The United States and collective security in the twentieth century

This essay examines the efforts to design and implement international organizations dedicated to the pursuit and maintenance of peace and security in the twentieth century and the role played by the United States in these efforts. The League of Nations' first attempts at securing peace failed due to enforcement problems within the covenant and the American refusal to join. The United States then took the lead in redesigning the approach to collective security which resulted in the United Charter being signed in June, 1945. The United Nations Security Council was given specific powers to enforce its decisions which could only be executed if there was unity among the Great Powers. While insuring Great Power sovereignty by the veto provision, the decision would then be binding on the rest of the United Nations' members, thus limiting their sovereignty.; The paper addresses the efforts of the United Nations Security Council to maintain peace and security during the course of its first fifty years with particular attention to the Cold War context in which it operated. The United Nations survived despite the fact that allied unity soon changed to super power rivalry and the Security Council, where the Soviets made liberal use of the veto, became an important setting for this confrontation. A regional case study examines how the United Nations sustained peacekeeping efforts in the volatile Middle East. A final overview of United Nations actions in the Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia indicates some of the realities the United Nations faces with the end of the Cold War.; A brief appendix suggests how secondary school teachers might imbed the study of peacekeeping in the existing New York State Curriculum.