POLI 360 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Lester B. Pearson, Peacebuilding, Rwandan Genocide

• School: McGill University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 360
• Professor: T.V.Paul

Document Summary

One of the un"s biggest field operations. Peacekeeping not meant to defeat an aggressor nor place blame, there is no identification of an enemy. Purpose is to maintain peace while tension is high, no party is determined to pursue armed conflict. Peace keeping is meant to prevent them from escalating and engaging in conflict. Goals and needs adopted by peacekeeping forces: observing: border violations, serving as buffer between hostile forces, supervising troop control, helping to monitor elections, maintain domestic order during transition period, observing or policing ceasefire line. Deployment is based on consent of the sovereign territory involved. Weapons may be used only in self-defense: limited number of troops are drawn from different countries if hostilities break out again, they do not have the capacity to enforce peace. Classical peacekeeping: put in place after 1956 suez crisis, under suggestion of canadian pm. Lester pearson: until 1989, peacekeeping could only take place in places where there was a ceasefire.