Sovereignty as Normative Decoy in the R2P Challenge to the Charter of the United Nations

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley V. Scott ◽  
Roberta C. Andrade
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Real World ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Cognitive Structures ◽  
Potential Victim ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Normative Development ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P), touted in 2009 as ‘the most dramatic normative development of our time’, is highly contentious, having generated a scholarly literature far greater than its real-world impact would seem to warrant. This may well be because of its potential to challenge and displace core existing norms, the most widely cited of which is sovereignty. This paper draws on the theory of Cognitive Structures of Cooperation (csc Theory) to identify the relationship of R2P to existing normative structures, including the Charter of the United Nations, with a view to assessing the depth of the challenge posed and the potential consequences if the emergent norm were to be fully embraced. The analysis concludes that, rather than representing the object and potential victim of the R2P assault, sovereignty is better understood as having represented a decoy in this process of normative contestation.

The United Nations and the Responsibility to Rebuild

2021 ◽  
pp. 274-287
Author(s):  
Alex J. Bellamy
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Practical Work ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship

Peacebuilding and statebuilding were integral parts of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) when the principle was first articulated in 2001. But since 2005 they have developed quite separately, creating a gap between the theories and practices of protection and peacebuilding. The effects of this gap are not just theoretical but practical too. The UN’s failure to properly follow through with rebuilding support in Libya contributed to that country’s descent into chaos and civil war, especially after 2013. Likewise a failure to incorporate atrocity-prevention concerns into ongoing peacebuilding efforts in places like Sri Lanka and the Central African Republic meant that the UN’s field presences did not do all they could to prevent atrocities or protect vulnerable populations. This chapter examines the relationship between peacebuilding and R2P in the UN context. It shows how the two were conceived as being mutually supporting activities but were separated during the UN’s wider deliberations on reform. It describes the effects of this gap between peacebuilding and protection before arguing that the two agendas are closely aligned and should be integrated. And it points to practical work to ensure that atrocity prevention is mainstreamed into peacebuilding efforts, and vice versa.

The Emerging Alliance of Religion and Ecology

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Evelyn Tucker
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Environmental Groups ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Religion And Ecology ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe role of the world's religions may be crucial in rethinking the relationship of humans to the natural world in a mutually enhancing manner. I first acknowledge, although briefly, the scale and complexity of the environmental crisis. Next, I suggest the need for seeking common grounds to work toward a resolution of the crisis. Then I highlight the call for the co-operation and action of the world's religions from particular sectors such as environmental groups, the United Nations, political leaders, scientists, and ethicists. Finally, I document some of the responses and the resources of the world's religions in evoking new attitudes toward nature.

Palestine at the UN: The PLO and UNRWA in the 1970s

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Irfan
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Near East ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Palestine Liberation Organization ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Palestinian Refugee ◽  
International Issue ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the relationship of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) during the 1970s, the period when the PLO reached the zenith of its power in Palestinian refugee camps throughout the Levant. Based on archival United Nations (UN) and UNRWA documents, as well as the PLO's own communications and publications, the article argues that the organization approached its relationship with UNRWA as part of a broader strategy to gain international legitimacy at the UN. That approach resulted in a complex set of tensions, specifically over which of the two institutions truly served and represented Palestinian refugees. In exploring these tensions, this article also demonstrates how the “question of Palestine” was in many ways an international issue.

International Telecommunications Union

1948 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-365
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Atlantic City ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
International Telecommunications ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
General Secretariat ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Second Session of the Administrative Council: The second session of the Administrative Council of the International Telecommunications Union met in Geneva from January 20 to February 11, 1948 in accordance with a resolution adopted at the Council's first session at Atlantic City in September 1947. Chairman of the second session was Francis Colt de Wolf (United States) who was elected as interim chairman in place of Mr. Fortouchenko (USSR) who could not attend the meeting because of illness. Despite considerable initial difficulty the Council adopted approximately 35 resolutions, decisions, or opinions. Its most important administrative and financial decisions had to do with: 1) the budget of three million Swiss francs which had been set at Atlantic City and was approved by this session; 2) the transfer of the general secretariat of the Union from Beme to Geneva which, because of financial difficulties, was deferred until January 1, 1949; 3) the decision to transfer the secretariat and laboratories of the International Telephone Consultative Committee (CCIF) to Geneva as the expense of moving could be met by the CCIF itself. In addition the Council heard the reports of its various commissions and considered the relationship of ITU to other international organizations and conferences. The lack of coordination between the secretariats of ITU and the United Nations was noted, and the Union's Secretary-General directed to bring the matter to the attention of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

2 The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Churchill Robin R
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) is the most important source of the international law of the sea. This chapter discusses the history and legal characteristics of the LOSC. It explains how the LOSC came into being; gives a brief overview of its provisions and considers their varying legal nature; explains which entities may and have become parties to the LOSC and considers the extent to which they are permitted to make reservations and declarations; outlines the relationship of the LOSC to other treaties and customary international law; explores the mechanisms for seeking to ensure compliance with the LOSC by its States parties; and finally discusses how the LOSC is kept under review and developed.

Negotiating the Responsibility to Protect in the un System: The Roles of Formal and Informal Groups

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 197-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex J. Bellamy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
The North ◽  
African Group ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Groups ◽  
Informal Groups

This article examines the role that groups played in the rise of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) within the United Nations (un) system. It focuses in particular on the role of informal groups of states in advancing a consensus on R2P, contrasting their role with that of formal regional and political groups, which — with the exception of the African Group — played a more marginal role. R2P has given rise to a multiplicity of informal groups of states. These informal groups operate alongside the formal regional and political groups and, with one or two exceptions, have tended to be significantly more influential, the main reason being the principle’s genesis. Arising out of fractious debates in the late 1990s about intervention and the relationship between sovereignty and fundamental human rights, R2P was from the outset a conscious attempt to bridge political divides between states in the un — especially the ‘North–South’ theatre.

How the United Nations Secretary-General Promotes International Norms

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Madokoro
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Norms ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Normative Development ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
And Diffusion

The United Nations Secretaries-General (unsg), Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, have devoted themselves to the development and diffusion of the responsibility to protect (r2p) norm for over a decade since the concept first appeared in 2001. However, it still remains unclear what roles they have actually played in promoting its normative development. By focusing on the notion of norm entrepreneurship proposed by social constructivist scholars in international relations, this article explores the process in which they have engaged and what effects their activities have had on the emergence and dissemination of r2p, especially the adoption of the un General Assembly resolutions on r2p in 2005 and 2009. The research concludes by arguing that the unsg can play a contributing role in enhancing norms by persuading and encouraging member states to collectively legitimise the norms, and stating theoretical implications pertaining to the role of the unsg in developing international norms.

The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Organizational Relationships ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
International Mediation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship

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.

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