What are the limits to the use of force in UN peacekeeping?

In: Berdal , M 2018 , What are the limits to the use of force in UN peacekeeping? in C de Coning & M Peter (eds) , United Nations Peace Operations in a Changing Global Order . pp. 113-132 . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99106-1_6

Abstract

The chapter traces the thinking and the practices surrounding the use of force by UN peacekeepers from the conceptual foundations laid in the era of classical peacekeeping to the contemporary focus on the protection of civilians and more "robust" operations. At the tactical level, a properly equipped and properly commanded force has on occasion been used with decisive effect in response to immediate crises or emergencies. The larger and more critical strategic lesson from the history of robust peacekeeping since 1999, however, is a cautionary one; one that highlights the need for the activities of UN "blue helmets" to be much more closely aligned than they have become over the past decade and a half to the search for viable political solutions to conflict.