IB MYP Individuals and Societies – Warfare and peacekeeping Revision Notes

These revision notes condense warfare and peacekeeping for IB MYP Individuals and Societies, aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and societies, from 2014. They suit MYP years 4 and 5 (no SL/HL split). “Warfare and peacekeeping” is a topic the brief lists for the on-screen examinations; MYP has no prescribed content list, so schools choose their own case studies, and these notes give you a reliable core.

For full explanations and worked examples, read the warfare and peacekeeping study guide first. Test yourself afterwards with the practice questions. Course links: course hub and printable checklist.

Key terms

Term	Definition to learn
Long-term cause	A factor building up over years that made war more likely
Short-term cause	A development in the months before war that raised tension
Trigger	The event that started the fighting
Security dilemma	One state arms for safety; its rival feels threatened and arms too
Collective security	Members treat an attack on one as an attack on all and act together
Total war	War that mobilises the whole society and economy; civilians become targets
Limited war	War with deliberately restricted aims, area or weapons
Proxy war	Outside powers back opposing local sides instead of fighting each other
Peacemaking	Diplomacy to bring warring sides to an agreement
Peacekeeping	Impartial personnel deployed with the parties’ consent to help keep a ceasefire
Peace enforcement	Force authorised by the Security Council under Chapter VII, without needing consent
Peacebuilding	Long-term work (institutions, justice, disarmament) so that war does not return
DDR	Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former fighters
Negative / positive peace	Absence of fighting / causes of conflict also addressed (Johan Galtung)

Types of war: one example each

Type	Example to quote
Interstate	Falklands War, 2 April – 14 June 1982
Civil	Spanish Civil War, 1936–39; American Civil War, 1861–65
Total	Second World War, 1939–45
Limited	Korean War, 1950–53
Proxy	Vietnam War, ending with the fall of Saigon, 30 April 1975
Cold	USA and USSR, c.1947–1991

One conflict can carry several labels. Name the feature that fits each label you use.

Timeline of dates to know

Date	Event
1882	Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
1907	Triple Entente complete: Britain, France, Russia
28 June 1914	Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo (trigger)
28 July 1914	Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
4 August 1914	Britain enters the war after Germany invades Belgium
11 November 1918	Armistice ends fighting on the Western Front
28 June 1919	Treaty of Versailles signed
January 1920	League of Nations begins work (USA never joins)
1931 / 1935	Japan invades Manchuria / Italy invades Abyssinia: League fails to act effectively
1 September 1939	Germany invades Poland
3 September 1939	Britain and France declare war on Germany
8 May 1945	Victory in Europe
26 June 1945	UN Charter signed, San Francisco
2 September 1945	Japan’s formal surrender
24 October 1945	UN Charter in force (51 founding members)
1948	UNTSO: first UN peacekeeping mission (unarmed observers)
25 June 1950	North Korea invades South Korea; armistice 27 July 1953
1956	UNEF I: first armed UN peacekeeping force (Suez Crisis)
1964	UNFICYP deployed in Cyprus (still running)
1988	UN peacekeeping forces receive the Nobel Peace Prize
2 August 1990	Iraq invades Kuwait; force authorised November 1990
1992	An Agenda for Peace (Boutros Boutros-Ghali)
April–July 1994	Genocide in Rwanda; UN force cut in April 1994
July 1995	Srebrenica: more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys killed in a UN “safe area”
2005	UN Peacebuilding Commission set up

UN Charter and Security Council facts

Item	What it says or does
Article 2(4)	Bans the threat or use of force against other states
Article 51	Keeps the right of self-defence
Chapter VI	Peaceful settlement: negotiation, mediation, arbitration
Chapter VII	Action against threats to peace: sanctions (Art. 41), force (Art. 42)
Security Council	15 members: 5 permanent with veto (China, France, Russia, UK, USA) + 10 elected for two years
Peacekeeping principles	Consent of the parties; impartiality; non-use of force except self-defence and defence of the mandate

Method in steps

Explaining causes (criterion A and D)

1. Name each cause and label it long-term, short-term or trigger.
2. Give one precise, dated piece of evidence for each.
3. Link causes: show how one made another more dangerous.
4. Judge which mattered most and say why (“without the alliances, the assassination stays a local crisis”).

Judging whether a peace operation succeeded

1. State the mandate: what was the mission asked to do?
2. Test short-term success: did the ceasefire hold, were civilians protected?
3. Test long-term success: was a political settlement reached (positive peace)?
4. Name the limits: consent, size, veto politics, resources.

Evaluating a source (criterion B and D)

1. Origin: who made it, when?
2. Purpose: why, and for whom?
3. Value: what can it reliably show for this research question?
4. Limitation: what can it not show, and why (use the same origin or purpose fact)?

Worked reminder: percentage change

A fictional mission’s troop strength fell from 5,000 to 3,500.

Fall             = 5,000 − 3,500 = 1,500
Percentage fall  = 1,500 ÷ 5,000 × 100 = 30%

Always divide by the starting value.

Must-know distinctions

• Cause vs trigger. The trigger starts the war; the causes explain why it became that war.
• Peacekeeping vs peace enforcement. Peacekeeping needs consent and uses minimal force (Cyprus, 1964). Enforcement is authorised under Chapter VII and does not need consent (Korea, 1950; Kuwait, 1990–91).
• Peacekeeping vs peacebuilding. Keeping a ceasefire (negative peace) vs removing causes of war (positive peace).
• League vs UN. The League had no US membership and no armed forces. The UN has the Security Council with Chapter VII powers, but troops are still lent by members and the veto can block action.
• Civil war vs proxy war. A civil war is fought inside a state; it becomes a proxy war when outside powers back the sides (Vietnam).
• Consequence vs cause. Versailles (1919) was a consequence of the First World War and a cause of the Second.

Linking to concepts

• Key concepts from the brief: change, global interactions, time, place and space, systems.
• Related concept: causality fits every “why did war break out?” question.
• Global contexts: fairness and development (justice after war), orientation in space and time (turning points).

For how criteria and tasks fit together, see the assessment revision notes.

Quick self-test

1. Define a trigger and give the trigger of the First World War with its date.
2. Name the three members of the Triple Entente.
3. Give two reasons the League of Nations failed in the 1930s.
4. When did the UN Charter come into force?
5. Which chapter of the UN Charter allows the Security Council to impose sanctions or authorise force?
6. State the three principles of UN peacekeeping.
7. Was the UN action in Korea in 1950 peacekeeping or peace enforcement? Explain.
8. Distinguish negative peace from positive peace.
9. What does DDR stand for?
10. A fictional mission’s troops fell from 5,000 to 3,500. Calculate the percentage fall.
11. How many years passed between the UN Charter coming into force and the Nobel Peace Prize for UN peacekeeping forces?
12. Give one example of a consequence of one war that became a cause of another.

Answers

1. The event that starts the fighting; the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, 28 June 1914.
2. Britain, France and Russia.
3. Any two: the USA never joined; it had no armed force; it failed to stop Japan in Manchuria (1931) or Italy in Abyssinia (1935).
4. 24 October 1945.
5. Chapter VII (Article 41 sanctions, Article 42 force).
6. Consent of the parties; impartiality; non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate.
7. Peace enforcement: the Security Council called on members to help South Korea fight the invasion; it did not depend on both sides’ consent.
8. Negative peace is the absence of fighting; positive peace also removes the causes of conflict.
9. Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration.
10. 1,500 ÷ 5,000 × 100 = 30%.
11. 1988 − 1945 = 43 years.
12. The Treaty of Versailles (1919), which fed German resentment exploited by the Nazis before 1939.

Where marks are usually lost

• Listing causes without linking them, so there is no judgement about which mattered most.
• Calling the Korean War or the 1991 Gulf War “peacekeeping” instead of enforcement.
• Giving vague dates (“in the 1900s”) when the precise year is well known.
• Treating the veto as a UN failure without explaining how it works (one permanent member can block a resolution).
• Judging a mission only by whether fighting stopped, ignoring whether a settlement followed.
• Forgetting that UN troops are contributed by member states, so size and quality depend on their willingness.
• Evaluating a source with generic “it may be biased” comments instead of linking bias to its origin and purpose.
• Dividing by the final value, not the starting value, when calculating percentage change in data tasks.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Individuals and societies, from 2014. The brief lists “warfare and peacekeeping” among the topics explored in the on-screen examinations; the cases and dates here are standard examples chosen for revision.