United States security policy and the United Nations in the post Cold War era

On the eve of the 21st century, the international community is on the verge of a crisis in maintaining international peace and security. The old rules, norms, and procedures of the bipolar Cold War environment which regulated international hostilities have collapsed with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. This disintegration should have provided an opportunity for the world community to realize the regulation of international conflict through the UN structure. As the world\u27s remaining superpower, the US sets the tone for the international community in the regulation of international conflict. Throughout the 1990s, US security policy has been inconsistent especially towards the UN. This study contends that instead of distancing itself from the UN, the US should utilize the organization\u27s collective and multilateral security mechanism to help maintain international peace and stability. Generally, US and UN policies complement each other. Critical to conflict resolution is the capability to use and project military force. Currently, use-of-force through the UN is severely limited. The UN has demonstrated only two viable use-of-force options--traditional, non-coercive peacekeeping and the authorization of all-out, military peace enforcement. The UN truly requires the ability to calibrate its responses given a particular threat. In order to fully realize this military element, the UN must have US participation. The US, in turn, needs the multilateral forum which the UN provides to successfully realize its expansive foreign policy aims. This study focuses on two post-Cold War peace operations--Cambodia and the former Yugoslavia--to illuminate the weakness in current UN use-of-force capabilities and to demonstrate a need for US participation