ABSTRACT
The limitations of on the United Nations (UN) post-Cold War security effort have been evident in Europe. Europe of the "central balance" had been the subject of more than rhetorical involvement by the UN. Only Cyprus, on the geographical periphery of the continent and largely apart from Cold War issues experienced UN peacekeeping effort. The "traditional" model of UN peacekeeping - that applied in Cyprus and, less appropriately but quite faithfully in Bosnia - is itself liable to change. New demands on the UN have brought new formulations for the management and nature of peacekeeping. A useful starting point for an exploration of the possibilities is the existing framework of international law on relations between the United Nations and regional organisations. The promise of the "political" support of the UN held out in Boutros-Ghali's 1995 paper might be important in a number of situations, the more narrowly "legal" question of international legitimisation needs to be approached with a certain caution.
