ABSTRACT
Since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, the nature of crises requiring peacekeeping rescue missions has undergone important transformations, and the mandates of the peacekeeping forces have become correspondingly more complex and variegated. One of the originators of United Nations Emergency Force, Canadian foreign minister Lester Pearson, aptly characterized a UN peacekeeping force as "an intermediate technique between merely passing resolutions and actually fighting." The United Nations system has since inception encouraged non-U.N. action designed to assist in restoring peace in a troubled world. The peace of the world may well depend upon the political wisdom, moral resoluteness and military power of the United States. The United Nations remains the best hope in particular for the smaller and less powerful countries in their search for peace and security through effective arms control and disarmament, for social justice and human rights, for decent living standards through economic growth and development.
