scholarly journals The Will and Authority of the Security Council after Iraq

2004 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
NIGEL D. WHITE

One year after the invasion of Iraq, what lessons are to be drawn about the role of the Security Council in peace and security? This article looks at the issue by considering the nature of the Security Council in its dual functions as a forum for diplomacy and a corporate body for executive action. The idea of the Security Council's possessing a separate will in its executive function is developed. The article stresses the importance for the authority of the Council of that organ expressing its will within the legal parameters of the Charter and international law. It is argued that similar legal parameters are also applicable to the permanent members in exercising their power of veto and in interpreting resolutions. Further, when interpreting resolutions member states should not misconstrue the will of the Council. The Iraq crisis of 2003 raised all these issues and, further, necessitated a reappraisal of the rules of international law governing the use of force. This article considers the relationship between diminution in Council authority and erosion of the rules of the UN Charter governing the threat or use of force in international relations.

Author(s):  
Martin Wählisch

This chapter explores the relationship between peace settlements (which encompass truces, armistices, ceasefires, and peace agreements) and the prohibition of the use of force. It begins by discussing the role of peace treaties in prohibiting the use of force, the consequences of non-compliance with peace settlements, and previous experiences in enforcing ceasefires and peace agreements. It then considers the elements of the applicable normative framework in international law, including the legal basis of peace treaties and the legal consequences of their breach. The chapter concludes by analysing the implementation mechanisms for peace settlements, with particular reference to the practice of monitoring and peace enforcement missions authorized by the UN Security Council.


2003 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Falk

President George W. Bush historically challenged the United Nations Security Council when he uttered some memorable words in the course of his September 12, 2002, speech to the General Assembly: “Will the UN serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?” In the aftermath of the Iraq war there are at least two answers to this question. The answer of the U.S. government would be to suggest that the United Nations turned out to be irrelevant due to its failure to endorse recourse to war against the Iraq of Saddam Hussein. The answer of those who opposed the war is that the UN Security Council served the purpose of its founding by its refusal to endorse recourse to a war that could not be persuasively reconciled with the UN Charter and international law. This difference of assessment is not just factual, whether Iraq was a threat and whether the inspection process was succeeding at a reasonable pace; it was also conceptual, even jurisprudential. The resolution of this latter debate is likely to shape the future role of the United Nations, as well as influence the attitude of the most powerful sovereign state as to the relationship between international law generally and the use of force as an instrument of foreign policy.


Author(s):  
Nigel D. White

This chapter examines the division of competence between the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly concerning matters of international peace and security but placed within the context of the prohibition on the use of force. Although the Security Council can authorize the use of force by states, what is not clear is whether the General Assembly can recommend that states take military action. The chapter considers the conundrum faced by the United Nations with respect to an imminent and catastrophic use of force or act of egregious violence, when the UN Security Council is deadlocked because of the lack of agreement between the permanent members. It discusses the debate over the legality of the (in)famous Uniting for Peace Resolution of 1950 within the context of the emerging principle of a Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as well as within existing principles of international law.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Hehir

The three books reviewed here all address the question of the efficacy of international law and advance concerns about its future trajectory, albeit in contrasting ways. As has been well documented, the role of international law – specifically in the regulation of the use of force – has undergone significant scrutiny in the post-Cold War era. To a much greater extent than during the Cold War, contemporary conflicts and crises are invariably discussed with reference to international law, and the legality of a particular use of force has become a significant factor in assessing its legitimacy; one need only think of the importance placed on the legality of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This increase in prominence suggests that international law has become more important, and unsurprisingly those used to the discipline's previous role as exotic curio have welcomed this sudden promotion (Robertson, 2000).


The United Nations Secretary-General and the United Nations Security Council spend significant amounts of time on their relationship with each other. They rely on each other for such important activities as peacekeeping, international mediation, and the formulation and application of normative standards in defense of international peace and security—in other words, the executive aspects of the UN’s work. The edited book The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council: A Dynamic Relationship aims to fill an important lacuna in the scholarship on the UN system. Although there exists an impressive body of literature on the development and significance of the Secretariat and the Security Council as separate organs, an important gap remains in our understanding of the interactions between them. Bringing together some of the most prominent authorities on the subject, this volume is the first book-length treatment of this topic. It studies the UN from an innovative angle, creating new insights on the (autonomous) policy-making of international organizations and adding to our understanding of the dynamics of intra-organizational relationships. Within the book, the contributors examine how each Secretary-General interacted with the Security Council, touching upon such issues as the role of personality, the formal and informal infrastructure of the relationship, the selection and appointment processes, as well as the Secretary-General’s threefold role as a crisis manager, administrative manager, and manager of ideas.


Author(s):  
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen

This book scrutinizes the relationship between the concept of international legal personality as a theoretical construct and the position of the individual as a matter of positive international law. By testing four main theoretical conceptions of international legal personality against historical and existing international legal norms that govern individuals, the book argues that the common narrative about the development of the role of the individual in international law is flawed. Contrary to conventional wisdom, international law did not apply to States alone until the Second World War, only to transform during the second half of the twentieth century to include individuals as its subjects. Rather, the answer to the question of individual rights and obligations under international law is—and always was—solely contingent upon the interpretation of international legal norms. It follows, of course, that the entities governed by a particular norm tell us nothing about the legal system to which that norm belongs. Instead, the distinction between international and national legal norms turns exclusively on the nature of their respective sources. Against the background of these insights, the book shows how present-day international lawyers continue to allow an idea, which was never more than a scholarly invention of the nineteenth century, to influence the interpretation and application of contemporary international law. This state of affairs has significant real-world ramifications as international legal rights and obligations of individuals (and other non-State entities) are frequently applied more restrictively than interpretation without presumptions regarding ‘personality’ would merit.


Author(s):  
Miriam Bak McKenna

Abstract Situating itself in current debates over the international legal archive, this article delves into the material and conceptual implications of architecture for international law. To do so I trace the architectural developments of international law’s organizational and administrative spaces during the early to mid twentieth century. These architectural endeavours unfolded in three main stages: the years 1922–1926, during which the International Labour Organization (ILO) building, the first building exclusively designed for an international organization was constructed; the years 1927–1937 which saw the great polemic between modernist and classical architects over the building of the Palace of Nations; and the years 1947–1952, with the triumph of modernism, represented by the UN Headquarters in New York. These events provide an illuminating allegorical insight into the physical manifestation, modes of self-expression, and transformation of international law during this era, particularly the relationship between international law and the function and role of international organizations.


Author(s):  
E. Voronin

Facts backed up by documents and contemporary testimonies must serve as a basis for the consequencies of the events of 1917, as a verification of any impartial estimation and indiscriminate view on the most brutal revolt in history, and its consequences.The Russian society needs an impartial, just and deep analysis of these events. Foremost this would require a clear civilised understanding of the real essence of any coup d’etat, whatever name it takes (revolution, classjustified struggle, etc) and whatever banners it bears in history, and whatever propaganda and ideological falcifications determine it.The Constitution of any state ruled by law acknowledges any evolution in the development of the sociaty based on legal principles. Any change of institutes or social system in a state can be realised through the force of laws, which comply with the public expression of will (referendum). In national legislation of the present-day states there are no norms, which establish revolutionary convulsions as legal, which are based on illegitimate take-over with the use of force.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (11(61)) ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
Nina A. Ronzhina ◽  
Yaroslav V. Okhrimenko

The article is devoted to the theory of taxonomy of the branch of international customs law (ICL). The article considers scientific positions and innovations that touch upon the issues of consistency and systematization of the industry in the context of established international customs relations. The authors investigate the relationship between the sign of consistency and the processes of theoretical systematization of the industry, prove the presence in its structure of a full complex of backbone elements necessary to establish the place and role of the ICC in the system of international law.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Caligiuri

The aim of the study is to ascertain how the original Grotian formula ‘aut dedere aut punire’ has been implemented and evolved in international law. The first step is to classify the multilateral conventions that have accepted an aut dedere aut judicare clause. The goal is to bring out peculiarities of the different treaty texts, describing the relationship between the two options dedere and judicare, and the different obligations that arise for the contracting states. We will then examine the content of the two options, to define the legal boundaries within which the contracting states shall or may operate. At this point, we will focus on the legal nature of the aut dedere aut judicare principle that over time may have risen to the status of customary rule. The study will conclude with analysis of reactions to the breach of the aut dedere aut judicare clause by non-complying countries.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document