1. The United Nations is in large parts the creation of the World War America. It was the project of subsequent presidents, starting from Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations, a project that, due to the misfortunes of the historical circumstances, failed to pass the Senate's vote in the late 1920s, to the Casablanca, Tehran and ultimately Dumbarton Oaks, each in its turn having a crucial role in finalizing what would be the United Nations Charter. While the League was weakened by the refusal of the American legislative to engage in a world body that would deal with post war conflict situations, the United Nations, despite its illustrious membership, at times, was paralyzed by the lack of action coming from the US. Nonetheless, an important force that played a determinant role in setting the pace for the intervention/nonintervention strategy of the US towards the UN peacekeeping operations has been, for decades now, the American public opinion. Throughout the years, it put its mark on the decisions of US presidents in regard to the New York headquartered forum. There are numerous examples in this sense.
The Somalia case is relevant for underlining the pressures made for the US government to intervene in that famine torn country. Operation "Restore hope", undergone with the approval of the UN Security Council was, by all accounts, the response to the increased public opinion pressure exercised both at the level of the Congress, but most importantly, on President Bush. (Jan, 1996) However, the refusal of the US to engage in further military assistance aside from the insurance of the safe passage of the humanitarian assistance was, in part, caused by the same public opinion that to this day maintains the Vietnam syndrome of non interventionism. (Jan, 1996)
Rwanda was a tragic example of the consequences non interventionism has. By the time the world became aware of the massacres in Kigali, it was much to late to stop t...