United Nations Peacekeeping as an International Tool for the Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Has it exceeded its original purpose with the missions being carried out today

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping operations have exceeded their original purpose of maintaining international peace and security. This paper will define peacekeeping and compare traditional first-generation peacekeeping to current second-generation multi-dimensional peacekeeping operations. An analysis of prior peacekeeping missions will be used to gain a better understanding of how operations were conducted while also highlighting the successes and failures caused by each response. This will allow the reader to gain a better understanding of why second generation operations developed. It will also show where these new operations have been successfully adopted, and where a third generation might be needed in the future. This paper will also examine outside influences on peacekeeping such as globalization, the advancement of technology, new warfare tactics and awareness of events by the public. Finally, this paper will focus on the need for change. Rather than widening peacekeeping into forms of enforcement, I argue that new peacekeeping operations should return to preventative diplomacy but with a new tactic that creates mandates to respect the customs of sovereign states.