In a 2015 report, then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked that the United Nations (UN) had “entered an era of partnership peacekeeping.” And, indeed, in the past three decades, the UN has frequent…

Reports of the death of United Nations (UN) peace operations have been greatly exaggerated. When, after securing a second five-year term in 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres released his vis…

The year 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the deployment of the first United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation to the Middle East, the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). Even though less o…

What factors influence the effectiveness of peace operations? Looking back over the past 75 years of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, this is the most enduring question from researchers and policymak…

Since 1948, more than 1,000 United Nations personnel have been killed by “malicious acts” while serving in UN peacekeeping operations, and more than 3,000 have been injured. The number of acts has spi…

Ten years after the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was established, the mission’s future and that of its 15,000 military and police officers is more…

As new forms of geopolitical competition crop up around the world, a recent trend in the use of state-affiliated private military and security companies (PMSCs) has seen these actors deployed into a g…