ABSTRACT

In the last 20 years, states have drawn massively on peace operations in order to strengthen security conditions in unstable areas and reduce the consequences of violence perpetrated by state governments and other actors in international and internal conflicts. The propensity to promote multilateral security by bearing the costs of peace operations is spreading to many states. However, differences exist because political, cultural, and economic factors influence the decisions of state governments over contributing national resources to multilateral operations organized by the United Nations, international organizations, and groups of states. The growth in number of non-UN-led operations has recently been analysed and explained by scientists. Their views are reviewed and debated in the chapters of this book by McDougall and Riesche who analyse the regionalization of peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Meanwhile, in Chapter 1 of this book, the rise of minilateralism in the current phase of global politics has been advanced to explain the propensity of groups of states to apply the multilateral principles of peace operations.