Introduction

The end of the Cold War heralded a new era in international peacekeeping, and new hope for its main facilitator, the United Nations (UN). The Gulf War suggested - some thought decisively - that the bipolar divisions of the Cold War were over, and that the world's major powers could work together in pursuit of a common objective, that objective being the maintenance of international peace, order and stability. And at least in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War such a positive outlook seemed well founded. Major powers became involved in peacekeeping - particularly through the UN - to an extent unprecedented during the Cold War years.