Abstract: The article discusses the key principles of United Nations peacekeeping. Based on the use of the mechanisms of the Charter of the United Nations, the evolution of the Organization's activities in the field of maintaining international peace and security from the concept of collective security to the modern practice of peacekeeping is shown. Using the example of key documents of the universal Organization and specific United Nations peacekeeping missions, the functioning of the principles of consent of the parties, impartiality and non-use of force, as well as their conceptual changes in the post-bipolar period, is analyzed. The conceptualization of the principles of UN peacekeeping reflects the processes of evolution of the system of international relations in the bipolar and post-bipolar period in general, and the UN in particular. The inability to implement the original ideas laid down in the UN Charter prompted States to develop flexible mechanisms for responding and adapting the Organization to current conditions and moving from the concept of collective security to modern peacekeeping practices; the key principles that laid the foundation for UN peacekeeping operations were gradually formed. Along with the above—mentioned principles — the consent of the parties, impartiality and non-use of force - there are also such fundamental components of the success of peacekeeping operations as general guidance from the founding body, that is, the UN Security Council, as well as the order of management and control over international peacekeeping forces that operate under the leadership of the UN Security Council, but are under the command of the Secretary General. a secretary who speaks on behalf of the UN and has political guidelines from the Security Council.

Keywords: robust peacekeeping, UN Secretary General, UN Security Council, Brahimi Report, UN Charter, peacekeeping operations, UN reform, UN, peacekeeping, non-interference

Abstract: This article examines the key problems of the evolution and functioning of United Nations peacekeeping in the post-bipolar period. On the example of peacekeeping missions after 1990 and key documents in the field of peacekeeping operations, an assessment is given of the challenges facing the UN both at the stage of defining the mandate of operations and in the field of their financing. Based on the position of the United States of America regarding the payment of contributions to the UN budget, the imperfection of the mechanisms for financing UN peacekeeping is demonstrated and the negative consequences for the system of peacekeeping operations as a whole are highlighted. Today, UN peacekeeping is becoming multifunctional, with the main focus gradually shifting to the problems of conflict prevention and peace-building. At the same time, such a change of priorities exposes the problems inherent in the very architecture of UN peacekeeping, primarily related to the definition of the mandate and politicization of the activities of the Secretariat and the financing of missions. In connection with the departure from the traditional function of maintaining the ceasefire, costs are increasing, and non-payment by member countries, such as the United States, of contributions to the budget of operations entails a decrease in their effectiveness. It seems to us that the solution to the above—mentioned problems lies in the continuation of the UN reform process, especially in the field of approving the military part of the mandate and creating a single budget of the OPM integrated into the general UN budget. If there is the political will of the member countries, this process seems to us quite feasible and follows in line with the reform of the UN peacekeeping of the last thirty years.

Keywords: UNTAG, ONUC, UN budget, post -bipolar period, USA, UN reform, UN, peacekeeping operations, peacekeeping, UN Charter

Abstract: The article analyzes the modern form of France’s military presence in Sahel-Saharan region - the operation Barkhane. The main attention is given to the purpose and the tasks of the operation, the involved forces and finances, and foreign policy motives which France uses to justify its military involvement. Special attention is given to the weak aspects of the expedition - from the obscure situation with  funding and equipment, able to operate in the desert conditions, to the unreliability of the five Sahel countries. The authors also study the variants of the operation Barkhane termination, which can be considered by the French government. To study all the aspects of the problem as a single set, the authors use the SWOT-analysis method. Based on this method, the authors successively study the strong and the weak aspects of the operation, the possibilities and external threats. The conclusions are combined in a summary table - an analytical extract of all the key factors promoting or hampering the maintenance of France’s military presence in the region. Such point of view turns the study into the applied research, and bears out its scientific novelty against the background of other scientific work describing the situation in Sahel in general rather than focusing on the problems and prospects of the particular operation. The authors conclude that Sahel campaign remains quite unsuccessful for France: its negative internal and external effects are still stronger than the positive ones. In attempt to improve the situation, the current authorities try to realize the only scenario acceptable for them: to gradually withdraw the French army from Sahel in exchange for strengthening military forces of the local states.  

Keywords: European Union, G5 Sahel, Mali, terrorism, defence policy, operation Barkhane, overseas operations, Sahel, France, Emmanuel Macron

Abstract: The research subject is peacekeeping missions as an instrument of modern international and domestic conflicts. The author considers the problem the conflict phenomena in the modern political process. Special attention is given to the analysis of instruments of regulation of international and domestic military and political conflicts and the role of peacekeeping operations in this process. The author defines various approaches to understanding the essence of peacekeeping and a peacekeeping operations and their place in the modern international relations system. The multifaceted nature of the problem under study determines the methodology as a set of interrelated principles of cognition and research methods, realized on the base of popular synergetic and praxeological approaches to assessing and analyzing foreign policy problems of security. particularly, the author uses the set of recognized in political science cognitive principles, such as integrity, objectivity, historicism and alternativeness. Practical importance of the acquired results consists in deep and complex understanding of foreign policy of modern states in terms of collective security. The author’s conclusions and evaluations can be used for further consideration of the security component in foreign policy of a modern state for the purpose of studying the role of this aspect in the modern architecture of the European, Euro-Atlantic and global security. The author carries out the political analysis of evolution of international foreign policy in the sphere of security and defense in order to define the role and purpose of peacekeeping missions in the process of political and military conflicts settlement. The author analyzes various opinions about understanding the essence of peacekeeping and peacekeeping operations; considers the role of such operations within the modern international relations system; characterizes the essence of domestic and inter-state conflicts; presents the principles of peacekeeping operations. 

Keywords: stabilization of the political system, state security, military-political conflict, collective security, peacekeeping, peacekeeping mission, UN, armed conflict, war, institutional mechanism

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the conceptual paper on the problems of modern peacekeeping, the report “An Agenda for peace”, adopted in 1992. Its key provisions, as well as the doctrinal views on its actual meaning and content are examined. Special attention is paid to the concept of collective human security and the problems of formation of the permanent UN peacekeeping forces. The aim of the study is to establish the essence of the crisis of international peacekeeping of the UN of the 1990s on the base of the analysis of this document. For a more in-depth study of a systemic crisis in the UN peacekeeping the opinions of international lawyers are examined.The research is based on a combination of specific historical, comparative-legal, formal-legal and political-legal methods.For the first time in the Russian science of international law «An agenda for peace» is analyzed from the standpoint of the United Nations, and serves as a key document of modern international UN peacekeeping. The key issues are identified, including the problem of collective human security, which formed the basis for the future international legal norm of «responsibility to protect».

Keywords: human rights, UN Charter, Cooperation for peace, Security Council, Boutros-Ghali, collective human security, peacekeeping, UN, humanitarian catastrophe, humanitarian intervention