A NOTE ON THE ECONOMICS OF STANDBY VERSUS STANDING PEACEKEEPING FORCES

With UN peacekeeping activities in recent years having become more numerous, complex and costly, alternative means of responding to emerging crises and conflicts are being proposed and considered, along with their financial costs and funding. This paper analyzes the economic costs and benefits of recent options from a global resource point of view. It is concluded that standby forces provided by Member States to the UN, such as the multinational Stand-by Forces High Readiness Brigade for UN Operations (SHIRBRIG) and the more recent European Union (EU) Rapid Reaction Force (RRF), appear presently to be economically the most efficient means of providing UN peacekeeping. Standby forces, acknowledged by the UN as a feasible alternative to a UN standing army or police force, are economically the most efficient basically because they utilize more fully the existing military resources of Member States, rather than require major additional new resources for peacekeeping.Peacekeeping, Standing army, Standby arrangement, United Nations,

The enabling factor: the influence of US-EU cooperation on UN peace operations

The article analyzes the influence of US-EU cooperation on the UN decision-making process in the area of peace operations and its impact in the period 1991-2008. The article claims that US-EU cooperation transforms the positional power of the US, the EU and its member states into a coalition with dominant influence in the area of UN peace operations and becomes an enabling factor for the authorization of UN peace operations.The article analyzes the influence of US-EU cooperation on the UN decision-making process in the area of peace operations and its impact in the period 1991 - 2008. The article claims that US-EU cooperation transforms the positional power of the US, the EU and its member states into a coalition with dominant influence in the area of UN peace operations and becomes an enabling factor for the authorization of UN peace operations