ABSTRACT
The end of the Cold War has not, by and large, justified the optimism of those who saw in its passing a new dawn for UN peace operations. The "new multilateralism" which was to be based on a rediscovered sense of global purpose on the part of the post-bipolar state system has not come to pass - at least not in the forms first predicted. Some of the early, partial successes for the post-Cold War have not been sustained. The huge operation in Cambodia, although effective at the operational level, has not produced a stable long-term settlement. The successful verification mission in Angola (UNAVEM I) which oversaw the withdrawal of Cuban forces was not followed through by its successor operation (UNAVEM II) which sought to aid the resolution of the basic problem of the Angolan civil war (though subsequent UN endeavours may yet be more successful). Operation Desert Storm, which in UN terms could have been interpreted as a triumph for the collective security functions first visualised for the organisation in 1945, ultimately appeared no more than the co-option of multilateral legitimacy by old-fashioned western state interests.
