Conceptualizing and Delimiting Peacekeeping, 1957–60

Abstract

The three and a half years between the launch of UNEF and that of the UN’s next major peacekeeping force, the operation in the Congo (ONUC), constituted a remarkably fertile period in the evolution of international and British perspectives on peacekeeping. The UN’s experiment in Egypt generated strong responses around the world from both advocates and opponents of a greater role for the Organization in security issues. In Britain, a bemused Conservative Government under the new Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, had to come to terms with widespread public enthusiasm for the UN’s innovative response to the Suez affair. In contrast to the relatively unnoticed UN observer missions in Palestine and Kashmir, UNEF had transformed peacekeeping into public property: the Government could not afford to ignore public opinion on the subject, and was regularly obliged to respond to questions from Members of Parliament eager to place peacekeeping on a firmer footing. As for the civil service, its readmission to this area of policy-making after its virtual exclusion during the Suez crisis encouraged officials to show their true colours with regard to the United Nations.