Establishing up to date rules for peacekeeping

The Cold War is over. The main activity of numerous armies has become peacekeeping operations. Peacekeeping operations require a different philosophy and approach in order to succeed. Not only that, each peacekeeping operation is also unique. The Peacekeepers need to be aware of these factors. One way is to provide peacekeepers or potential peacekeepers with up to date rules for peacekeeping and/or enforcing, drawing from past experiences and future scenarios.

The US Army's new field manual on peacekeeping is required reading for many officers. Among other points made, the manual establishes a clear separation between peacekeeping and peace-enforcing. In peacekeeping situations the peacekeepers troops have to ensure local consent, by remaining impartial and limiting their use of force. Force can only be used in self-defence or defence of the mandate. Self-restraint is the rule. During peace-enforcement, peace-enforcers have the right to use force to compel or coerce all of the parties to the conflict, without their consent. Commanders must avoid inadvertently slipping from one type of peace operation to another (mission creep).