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.
