ABSTRACT
In this chapter I want to examine the contradictions of the new ‘ethical ideology’1 of world affairs by focusing on the contribution of developing countries to UN peacekeeping operations.2 Peacekeeping has come to be seen as one of the integral parts of the new-found orientation in post-cold war politics towards normative, humanitarian issues – practices such as intervening in conflicts to prevent the spread of war, ameliorate human suffering through guaranteeing the provision of aid convoys, and so on. In the decades since the end of the cold war, the UN’s growing appetite for manpower, for ‘Blue Helmets’ to man increasingly larger and far-flung field operations, has been met by forces contributed from developing countries.3
