ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses five generic parameters, which are to be used to discuss future international military operations: mandate, consent, conflict intensity, operational environment, and relative force composition and strength. These parameters single out the general characteristics of an international operation determining the operational requirements of the international force. Combined, the parameters will shape the tasks of an international force in an operation. The mandate matters because it determines the objectives of the operation. To consent is to accept or approve of what the international forces are there to do. In the era of traditional peacekeeping during the cold war, consent was largely about the legality of the mandate and the process that produced it because international interventions were an exception to the non-intervention principle. Conflict intensity determines what kind of experience the troops in the operation need to prepare for, and what kind of equipment they will need to achieve the objectives of the operation.
