The demand and supply of peacekeeping troops

The demand for military personnel in peace support operations (PSOs) has been very high for over a decade, compared with demands during the Cold War. This increasing demand for military peace support personnel contrasts dramatically with the significant decrease in the number of military personnel since the end of the Cold War. Indeed, the primary instrument to execute tasks assigned to military forces is manpower. The contribution of this paper is a survey of different types of PSOs, with the focus on the skills and abilities required of military personnel in those operations. The key to an effective operation is to select peace support personnel with the skills appropriate to that particular mission. This paper is divided into three sections, starting with a discussion of the supply and demand for military personnel. The paper then reviews different types of PSOs and their associated personnel requirements. The final section considers a mechanism for matching military personnel to appropriate PSOs.