The Role of the United Nations in International Security and Peacekeeping

PREFACE
The major problems confronting the international security has notably changed
since the end of the cold war thus facilitating the resolution of many conflicts in
regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and North America through the
assistance of the United Nations. Peacekeeping operations is the major way the
United Nations keep to its objective of maintaining international peace and
security. According to the UN charter, its aims are:
“to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,...to reaffirm faith in fundamental
human rights,...to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising
from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social
progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”. - www.un.org
However, its peacekeeping missions has been evident in the international
system thereby influencing other worldwide organisations to involve in
peacekeeping.
The anarchic structure of the international system is a political setting for
international security. States are extremely relational and depend on one
another, and these denotes the main aim of security. If the national security rely
on either hegemony or harmony, then state peace cannot be gotten from conflict
and anarchy. If anarchy continues to exist, these conditions will continue to be
relative. However, international security is part of the UN charter. If anarchy
holds, the UN will stand as an instrument to reduce conflicts and promote peace
internationally. There have been arguments between the idealists and realists
that have pessimistic and optimistic views of UN peacekeeping missions.
Idealists argue that international peace and cooperation is achievable with the
help of the United Nations. On the contrary, the realists argue that cooperation
in the international system can be achieved through ‘self-help’ which consists of
state actors. Furthermore, the peacekeeping institution is facing controversies as
there are debates on various ways to ensure international security and peace.
This work thoroughly examines the organisational objectives of the UN, both
idealist and realist ideology of international security context, performances and
critiques of the United Nations Security Council as well as an analysis of how
international security can be obtained through peacekeeping missions.

BACKGROUND AND MISSION STATEMENT OF THE UNITED
NATIONS
Established in 1945 to replace the League of Nations, the United Nations was
created for various objectives and reasons.
- International Peace keeping and Security: UN was solely created to
maintain international peace and security after the end of the Second
World war. It was to regulate the relations of states, dissuade them from
going to war and if that eventually happens, provide necessary measures
to preserve peace. UN charter implies that peace should be maintained
through collective security. Prior to the outbreak of the Cold war, there
was clash of interests between states (like Syria, Iran, Indonesia, Greece
etc.) which led to hostility and this left the superpowers to take sides. The
interference of these superpowers restricted the UN peacekeeping
mission. The tension and disagreement between the Soviet Union and US
crippled the implementation of the UN charter for peacekeeping. The
conflicts between various states made the Security Council not to make
use of the collective security mechanism in chapter 7 of the charter which
resulted in threat of international peace and security. No military or
political action was taken because of the enmity of the world
superpowers. The UN peacekeeping observation method was initially to
replace collective security. The failure of the maintenance of peace left
the organisation to create a new technique. Under the charter, peace
keeping encompasses from inter-personal crisis resolution to peace
enforcement operations. However, after the Cold war, the UN peace
keeping mission proved to be effective. Conflicts were managed between
states and eternal solutions to these conflicts were hopefully achieved.
UN peacekeeping operations has notably contributed to international
peace by separating combatants. At the end of the cold war, political
crisis drastically reduced and this gave room for the UN Security Council
to function more effectively. In 1990s, more UN forces were deployed
and the resolution of conflict increased.
- Promotion of friendly relations between states: UN aims at enhancing
diplomacy through the resolution of conflicts and peaceful relations
among nation-states.
- To foster cooperation among states; to enable the international problems
(political, economic or cultural) to be resolved.
- Protection of human rights and provision of humanitarian aids

The formation of the UN was for reasons such as:
- The prevention of wars like the 1st and 2nd world war from happening.
- Promotion of integration globally.
- Solving certain problems the nation-states find difficult to address.
The structure (main organs) of the UN are as follows:
- The General Assembly
- Security Council (comprises of five permanent members – UK, France,
United States, China and Russia)
- The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
- Secretariat
- International Court of Justice
- Trusteeship Council
PHILOSOPHY OF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND
PEACEKEEPING
The principle political structure of the international system is the anarchic
context. Anarchy set the stage for political elements whereby international
security has to be determined. There is need to therefore preserve independence
and promote sovereignty; thus creating various impacts of relations between
nations. Anarchic context implies a competitive nature of states and its’
existence through ‘self-help’. Chaotic structure in international system results to
deprivation of cooperation and peace. Idealists believe that the success of
national security is determined by the prevention of conflicts among nations and
absence of the hunger for power. On the contrary, the realists philosophy of
achievement of security is via the maximum use of power; states ought to be
competitive and powerful. This power ensured states are stable and ready to
wage war, thereby gaining its national interest. An overview of the realist
ideology suggests that power is the same as security when it is capable of
regulating the affairs of the state. However, the basis of the realists philosophy
of security is centred on national interest which is the major aim of national
security. This view is rather pessimistic in international system.
Presently, the environment of the international security system is extremely
complex compared to period of the Cold war. Evident challenges of this system
are the increasing number of fragile states and their inability to defend
themselves or manage their national affairs. The fragility of these sovereign