The term peacekeeping suffer from imprecision, and part of the reason is that the concept derived from the United Nations and state practice, not from express terms in the UN Charter. The advantage of the loose, ordinary sense in which the term is commonly employed by the press and the general public is that it conveys an idea that people believe they understand. It is for that reason that the expression peacekeeping operation is used here to encompass both traditional peacekeeping and enforcement operations
