To the issue of the formation of peacekeeping idea (on the example of the Suez Crisis of 1956)

The Suez Crisis of 1956 is considered one of the most acute regional conflicts of the Cold War period. Two of the five member states of the Security Council were involved in the conflict, who actively exercised the right of “veto” during any attempts at settlement, which paralyzed the existing mechanism for resolving conflicts within the UN. The disagreements of the “great” powers threatened to grow from a diplomatic confrontation into a military one, and conflict from regional to global. The solution was found at one of the sessions of the General Assembly, where Canadian L.B. Pearson presented his idea of resolving the conflict by creating the UN Emergency Forces. The study is devoted to the idea of creating a UN peacekeeping force, the founder of which is Canadian diplomat L.B. Pearson. The purpose of this study is to analyze the role of L.B. Pearson in the formation of the idea of peacekeeping, on the example of participation in the settlement of the Suez Crisis. We discuss the historical aspects and conditions for the creation of the UN Emergency Forces, a comparative analysis was conducted with the first observation missions of the UN, substantiate principles, which became the basis for the functioning of peacekeeping forces. We draw conclusion that it was L.B. Pearson’s ideas that contributed to the resolution of one of the most acute crises of the second half of the 20th century, and the creation of peacekeeping forces proved the effectiveness of the UN in maintaining international peace and security, conflict resolution, and also laid the foundation for modern peacekeeping.