ABSTRACT
After peacekeeping activities migrated out of the confines of the UN and became a tool of other organizations and groups of states, the absence of a clear definition provided a useful ambiguity to cover a multitude of activities which might not traditionally be considered part of conflict resolution. Indeed, the word ‘peacekeeping’ has been used to sanitize a number of aggressive military activities. British military activity in Northern Ireland in the 1970s was often labelled ‘peacekeeping’, as has been Russian military activity in Chechnya in the 1990s. More recently, the US-led occupation forces in Iraq have also laid claim to the term. To different degrees, of course, the appropriateness of the term to these situations is contestable.
