ABSTRACT

This chapter examines some of the now-familiar security issues which arose with the breakup of the Soviet Union and also it explains why security strategies and institutions need to be differentiated according to different underlying strategic situations and assess in greater detail the variety and variation in peace operations. Finally, it argues because the conflicts in the former Soviet Union entail a substantial degree of security interdependence, Russian decision makers have sought to use international organizations for conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and peace enforcement. The peacekeeping missions are qualitatively different from those of peace enforcement in such a way that peacekeeping can contribute to conflict resolution only if all the parties are confident that its real role or mission is not peace enforcement. So the question for peace operations and conflict resolution in the former Soviet Union is first whether Russia can and does serve as an honest and neutral mediator in those situations which are amenable to peace operations.