Peacekeeping is a conflict intervention technique typically using military units and civilians from many nations. Mostly these interventions take place under the auspices of the United Nations, though some are sponsored by regional organizations. Originally a way of managing conflicts by monitoring ceasefires or armistice agreements made between warring states, peacekeeping has come to be used for a variety of other purposes. These uses include preventive diplomacy, expeditionary intervention in “failed states,” postconflict state building, and election monitoring and transitional administration. Anthropological contributions to the analysis and practice of peacekeeping include analyzing the role of cultural factors in the development, design, and deployment of peacekeeping missions, and the relation of peacekeepers to local populations. Anthropological studies also take a critical perspective on peacekeeping, examining the ways in which missions reproduce and extend Western neoliberal ideas of governance or support the political status quo and institute neocolonial practices.