The end of the Cold War, which had significantly shaped international relations and global security structures for nearly half a century, imposed a practical burden of peace support upon the UN which it had always faced in theory but had never put into practice. The post-1991 debacles in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, the African Great Lakes region and East Timor swiftly and painfully demonstrated that the UN organization lacked the resources and infrastructure effectively to meet the enhanced demands being placed upon it. The idea that regional organizations and arrangements might fill the...