The practice of peace-maintenance shaped the contemporary profile of international territorial administration. The demise of colonialism and the creation of the UN and other international organisations after World War II instituted a certain faith in multilateralist approaches towards peacemaking. International organisations were more regularly entrusted with tasks formerly exercised by states. The UN came to exercise functions of territorial administration under the umbrella of peacemaintenance. International administration became one of the components Of “multi-dimensional” UN peacekeeping. This practice removed engagements in territorial administration partly from their historical realist tradition as post-war devices of power alliances.

Peacekeeping and international territorial administration

The UN Charter does not make express provision for peacekeeping activities by the UN. The practice of the organisation was born out of pragmatism. The start of peacekeeping under the Charter dates back to 1948-9 when the UN deployed military personnel to monitor ceasefires between Israel and its neighbours and between India and Pakistan. Seven years later, on 4 November 1956, the UN General Assembly requested Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold to send a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) to the Sinai, in order to secure and supervise a ceasefire between Egypt and Israel. This mission was followed by a series of other operations in which observer groups or military forces were deployed by the UN with the consent of the host state in order to monitor ceasefires or prevent hostilities among warring parties. These operations were embedded in the tradition of neutrality. The UN was involved because it was viewed as an impartial actor that could serve as a neutral buffer between competing parties to a conflict.