Peace operations remain a principal tool for managing armed conflict and protecting civilians. The fully revised, expanded and updated third edition ofUnderstanding Peacekeeping provides a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the theory, history, and politics of peace operations.

Drawing on a dataset of nearly two hundred historical and contemporary missions, this book evaluates the changing characteristics of the contemporary international environment in which peace operations are deployed, the strategic purposes peace operations are intended to achieve, and the major challenges facing todays peacekeepers. All the chapters have been revised and updated, and five new chapters have been added on stabilization, organized crime, exit strategies, force generation, and the use of force.

Part 1 summarizes the central concepts and issues related to peace operations. Part 2 charts the historical development of peacekeeping, from 1945 through to 2020. Part 3 analyses the strategic purposes that United Nations and other peace operations are intended to achieve namely, prevention, observation, assistance, enforcement, stabilization, and administration. Part 4 looks forward and examines the central challenges facing todays peacekeepers: force generation, the regionalization and privatization of peace operations, the use of force, civilian protection, gender issues, policing and organized crime, and exit strategies.

Paul D. Williams is Professor in the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.Alex J. Bellamy is Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Queensland, and Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

List of Figures List of Maps List of Boxes List of Tables List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Concepts and Issues 1. Peace Operations in Global Politics 2. Who Deploys Peace Operations? Part II: Historical Development 3. Peace Operations during the Cold War 4. Peace Operations during the 1990s 5. Peace Operations in the Twenty-First Century Part III: The Purposes of Peace Operations 6. Prevention 7. Observation 8. Assistance 9. Enforcement 10. Stabilisation 11. Administration Part IV: Contemporary Challenges 12. Force Generation 13. Regionalization 14. Privatization 15. Use of Force 16. Civilian Protection 17. Gender 18. Policing 19. Organized Crime 20. Exit Appendix References Index