The United Nations (UN), formed in 1945 with the lofty goal of averting world conflict and encouraging international cooperation, has been a beacon of hope and multilateralism. Over the years, the UN has shifted its focus from simple state mediation to complicated peacekeeping, peace enforcement, conflict prevention, and post-war reconstruction. Its methodologies were mostly inter-positional during the Cold War. As crises became increasingly complicated, especially after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, international warfare (direct war) was replaced by a rise in domestic civil wars, ethnic conflicts, and political tensions among powerful states.