The following will argue that the development of the concept of Global Governance has had a dramatic impact on the discourse of United Nations Peacekeeping and has increased the gap between the official rhetoric of the organisation and what occurs on the ground in peacekeeping operations. It will investigate the connection between the development of the norms associated with the concept of global governance and the increased demand being made for UN mandated peacekeeping operations. The thesis investigates how the development of these norms can be directly connected to the increased demands being placed on UN mandated peacekeeping operations and the way in which these norms, which are directly associated with the concept of Global Governance have become integrated into United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. It also argues that the integration of these norms is having a detrimental impact on the gap between the rhetoric and reality of peacekeeping operations. A detrimental impact which will be analysed using six key criteria including access to resources, fulfilment of mandates, perceived legitimacy both local and global, challenges faced during the operation from both state and non-state actors, and issues of command and control within the operation including organization and integration with other actors. In doing so the thesis offers a new and original assessment of the relationship between the development of global governance and peacekeeping operation by drawing on the unique data created in the fieldwork interviews, the analysis of mission mandates and the secondary literature.