ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the United Nation's peacekeeping role. It seeks to clear up the definitional confusion that has developed around the concept of peacekeeping. For purposes of clarification, a distinction is made between peacekeeping activities and peace maintaining or enforcing operations. The development of peacekeeping and other phases of peaceful-settlement machinery and operations in the post-war period has been handicapped by the nature of the contemporary international political scene. In theory, the purpose of UN peacekeeping has been to stop the fighting between the parties to a conflict so that a peaceful settlement could be arranged that would resolve the problems that had led to the eruption of violence in the first place. The United States is prepared to consider how the Security Council can play a more central role in the conduct of peacekeeping operations. Mr. Henry Kissinger's hope that he could prod the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations into a more active role has come to naught.
