When people have to live together, conflicts seem inevitable. In order to understand why peacekeeping in other countries is necessary, let's first look at the process used in families when a conflict occurs to help explain the need for peacekeeping.

Consider what occurs in a family when siblings have disagreements. Most of the time, such disagreements are minor and easily settled by the siblings themselves. If this does not happen, a third party such as parents will intervene to help bring about an agreement.

         

If an agreement is not reached, those involved may continue to be upset with each other. Depending on the situation, these negative feelings may linger for many years. In extreme circumstances, the situation may become a physical fight among the siblings. If this happens, the parents will usually intervene to stop the fight before someone is injured.

Although the parents can help solve problems and deal with situations, they cannot resolve them completely until the siblings decide they are ready to do so. Sometimes this means no longer having a reason to fight or learning to deal with situations in new ways that work better than fighting.

So, how does this explain the need for peacekeeping operations throughout the world? The world's peoples and resources are so varied that, just as in a family, conflicts are inevitable. You learned in earlier lessons that there are many causes of conflicts among people. Many conflicts are resolved by the parties themselves or through negotiations with or without the help of a mediator in much the same way as most sibling conflicts are resolved.

Others, however, need a strong intervention by another group. After World War II, the nations of the world embraced the United Nations and committed to avoiding another world war. Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to help host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. Of course, this has not been an easy task, because the causes of conflict still exist in our world.

Lord777 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

         

Remember how you learned that military action is sometimes necessary when all attempts to resolve a conflict have failed? Parents must intervene in disputes if siblings resort to violence, and sometimes the United Nations has to resort to military intervention in its efforts to protect people.

By MONUSCO Photos - International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, CC BY-SA 2.0

         

When such intervention is necessary, several nations commit military personnel to a United Nations Peacekeeping Force. You may think that the terms military and peacekeeping contradict, but peacekeepers are sent into volatile and often violent situations to help prevent the situation from erupting into full-scale war.

Intervention may be necessary when groups within a nation are fighting to gain control. If the conflicting groups are heavily armed, as is often the case, the citizens within that nation may be caught in the crossfire. Sometimes, one or both of the groups might kill some of these citizens in their attempts to get what they want. This type of conflict is most common in the developing nations.

Another situation where peacekeeping forces may be needed is in a conflict over territory. In this case, the forces prevent open fighting until the situation can be resolved. Of course, this may take many years. If a region is of vital importance to the interests of the world but considered unstable, the UN may decide to keep peacekeeping forces there. When one nation is invaded by another, a peacekeeping operation may be mounted.

As you can probably assume, peacekeeping operations cannot solve problems on their own. When you read about some of the situations in the world's hot spots, you will see that each situation is unique in its causes, severity, and needs. The length of time that a peacekeeping force is in place also varies. Some are almost permanent.

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