Miles, Sarah2016-06-052021-04-142016-06-052021-04-142016https://hdl.handle.net/11244.46/81© 2016, The Journal of Global Affairs is the official student research publication of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Correspondence may be sent to: Journal of Global Affairs, C/O CIS/DIAS, 729 Elm Avenue, Hester Hall 150, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States of America. Email: jga@ou.edu.United Nation’s Peacekeeping Operations have been contested since the first blue helmets arrived in the Gaza Strip in 1956. Peacekeeping Operations can be divided into three temporal categories, each with their own challenges: Cold War, post-Cold War, and twenty-first century. This article analyzes these three periods of peacekeeping in order to profer advice as to how UN Peacekeeping should be undertaken in the future. Considering that UN member states are shying away from the financial burdens of peacekeeping and that the twentyfirst century has been marked by states’ desire to engage only in conflicts directly in line with national interests, I suggest that the United Nations should return to limited-mandate peacekeeping missions. By combining limited-mandate missions with a greater focus on conflict prevention, the United Nations may continue to play an important role in global peacekeeping.en-USAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United StatesUnited NationsThree Periods of Peacekeeping OperationsLimited-Mandate Peacekeeping MissionsPeacekeeping OperationsArticle