International Relations

This dissertation seeks to identify the normative agenda in United Nations Peacekeeping and to assess how this has affected different types of UN Peacekeeping missions.  Normative theory as understood in International Relations is examined and the contrasting views of cosmopolitanism and communitarianism are elaborated.  The post-Second World War normative context is described in terms of the emergence of international organisations such as the United Nations and international Non-Governmental Organisations advocating for human rights as well as legal frameworks such as the Genocide and Geneva Conventions.  The early normative agenda of UN Peacekeeping is identified as distinctly communitarian which correlates to the prevailing environment of International Relations at the time that was dominated by the Cold War.  Following the end of the Cold War the normative agenda of UN Peacekeeping shifted significantly towards cosmopolitanism with clearly defined mechanisms for legally sanctioned intervention by the international community into the internal affairs of sovereign states.  The dissertation concludes that UN Peacekeeping today has an agenda that is both cosmopolitan and communitarian in nature. This is to be expected as UN Peacekeeping is not an activity prescribed in the UN Charter but is built on improvisation and innovation in the name of world peace.  UN Peacekeeping has experienced failure on several occasions, but is considered overall to be a successful enterprise of the United Nations.  Its wide ranging normative agenda is a key contributor to this success.