Part V Global and Regional Security Mechanisms, Ch.53 The African Union: Security Governance under the African Peace and Security Architecture

This chapter describes the security regime of the African Union(AU) mandated to promote peace and stability under the AU: the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) established in 2003. The chapter charts the institutional development of the mechanisms under the APSA against a volatile threat matrix and the deployment of these mechanisms in situational exigencies. It also illustrates the nature of the APSA as a security regime complex by unpacking the dense network of partnerships that operate within it. The chapter next demonstrates the pillars on which the APSA rests by engaging with select interventions made under each pillar. While the chapter concludes that the APSA has been proven to be an indispensable mechanism in addressing some conflicts, it also partly mirrors the past, present, and potential future of the large and fragmented continent it was designed for. The APSA is therefore not the penultimate representation of a collective security apparatus, but an evolving work in progress.

Part II Predominant Security Challenges and International Law, National and Transnational Security, Ch.8 Corruption and Global Security

This chapter studies the relationship between corruption and global security. It begins by discussing the term ‘corruption’, which lacks a legal definition and can mean different things to lawyers and to social scientists. The chapter describes the various ways in which corruption and insecurity can relate to each other. Corruption is both a cause of global insecurity and a consequence of it. In other words, corruption may lead to insecurity, and conversely, insecurity, as in post-conflict societies, may lead to corruption and to greater tolerance of it. In addition, corruption can also be a cause of security or stability, rather than insecurity. Finally, anti-corruption measures and campaigns may themselves inadvertently cause insecurity. The chapter then details the international legal framework concerning corruption. It explores the extent to which anti-corruption treaty laws can serve as tools or guides for States and also non-State actors seeking to combat corruption and promote global security. The chapter also considers one of the challenges facing researchers who study the causes and consequences of corruption, namely the difficulties involved in measuring corruption and the impact of anti-corruption laws.

Part V Global and Regional Security Mechanisms, Ch.58 The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

This chapter details how, for several decades, the normative framework for European security has been based on the principles and commitments of the Helsinki Final Act. The Helsinki principles and commitments, the result of more than two years of almost unbroken diplomatic negotiations, became the basis for guiding mutual relations amongst the participating States during the Cold War and helped to smooth the process of post-Communist transition. They remain relevant today as the fifty-seven participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) look to return to a rules-based system in order to enhance predictability, trust, and stability. The chapter looks at how OSCE principles and commitments have contributed to promoting security and cooperation in Europe. It explores how a political body, and the norms articulated by its participating States, fit into the framework of international law, and influence or are driven by it. Moreover, the chapter considers the impact that the unclear legal status of the OSCE has, particularly on operational activities. It analyses the OSCE as a political arrangement, its legal context, its structures, the status of its international legal personality and its impact, the OSCE as a regional arrangement under the United Nations Charter, and the various dimensions of the OSCE’s work.

Part II Predominant Security Challenges and International Law, National and Transnational Security, Ch.11 Terrorism and the Security Council

This chapter details the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) intense regulatory approach to counter-terrorism and its consequences, including the direct and indirect repercussions for affected individuals, and the broader global security landscape. The main argument is that the expansion of the UNSC’s role has gradually opened up a space of indeterminacy and unaccountability. Two dimensions are explored here: (i) the creation of a quasi-permanent counter-terrorism sanctions regime under Chapter VII and (ii) the Council’s ever-expanding ‘legislative’ activities, amongst others in relation to ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ and incitement or provocation. The chapter exposes underlying tendencies and ulterior effects of the UNSC’s approach, including the expansive reach of undefined or ill-defined phenomena, a reflex of over-criminalization, and the increasing involvement of the private sector, including financial institutions, in the counter-terrorism sphere. The impact on human rights, participatory democracy, the shrinking space for civil society, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilders, accountability, and rule of law is profound. Ultimately, the chapter tells a story of uncertain threats and unaccountable actors in counter-terrorism practice and the adverse effects on security in the long run.

Part II Predominant Security Challenges and International Law, Economic and Resource Security, Ch.25 Energy Security in International Law

This chapter investigates the concept of ‘energy security’, understood as the ‘uninterrupted availability of energy resources at an affordable price’. Importantly, according to this definition, the ‘availability’ of energy resources is measured against existing energy demand, and threats to energy security are therefore threats to the supply of enough energy to meet existing energy demand. Energy supply depends upon both domestic and international factors which are so interconnected that it is difficult to distinguish where one starts and the other ends. What is clear, however, is that international law plays a fundamental role in addressing many threats to energy security. The chapter looks at existing threats to energy security and the international legal frameworks that have been established in response. The challenges to energy security include an exponential increase in world energy demand, shortages of national oil and gas deposits, the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuel production in order to counteract climate change, as well as risks of geopolitical instability. The chapter then focuses on the mechanisms aimed to ensure that the flow of energy remains uninterrupted and at an affordable price, as well as on those mechanisms aimed at increasing access to energy resources.

Part II Predominant Security Challenges and International Law, National and Transnational Security, Ch.10 International Law and State Failure

This chapter examines the concept of State failure from the perspective of international law as it concerns the facilitation, regulation, and occasionally the degradation of global security. International law, in this context, is primarily conceptualized as an enabler for security-informed responses to the phenomenon of State failure. International law approaches State failure from the perspective of restorative legal and institutional facilitation, with a structural predilection for a State-centric security framework. This has resulted in the nexus between ‘State failure’ and international law being dominated by two interlinked purposes: (1) promoting the normative continuity of ‘Stateness’ for failed entities; and (2) managing the transition back to a minimum level of stable ‘Stateness’ with the least harm to the population and the international community. Ultimately, international law’s approach to State failure is primarily one of remedy, not of acceptance. The chapter seeks to evolve a working definition of ‘State failure’ from an international law perspective and assesses the adequacy of selected modes and indicators by which international law may recognize State failure.

Part II Predominant Security Challenges and International Law, Environmental Security, Ch.31 International Disaster Law

This chapter details how disasters, whether widespread or localized, pose a major threat to human security, as their effects place significant strain on human support systems. What is more, disasters invariably have a disproportionately harmful impact on the particularly vulnerable, who typically subsist at the margins of society, usually in harm’s way. For many States, the impact of specific disasters can be measured in terms of setbacks to human development. The imperative to provide aid and assistance following the onset of disasters is increasingly viewed as a key interest of the international community. The United Nations devotes significant resources to the coordination of efforts at the international level aimed at facilitating cooperation in the provision of humanitarian assistance. The organization has also become the central locus for contemplation at the global level on best practices in disaster risk reduction. The chapter then describes the outlines of an emerging international disaster law, motivated in large part by a growing awareness of the role law can play in efforts to reduce vulnerability to, and mitigate the impact of, disasters. Such sentiments are, in turn, driven by an appreciation of the potential deleterious consequences for global security arising from the widespread dislocation brought about by major disasters.

Part III Security Governance Tools, Ch.45 The Use of Force

This chapter describes the collective security system established by the United Nations Charter and focuses on the use of force. The vision of the founders of the United Nations—‘determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’—was to make the preservation of international peace a collective responsibility and to locate that responsibility in the United Nations and, in particular, the United Nations Security Council. States were obliged to refrain from the use of force in their international relations, and there would be no resort to armed force except ‘in the common interest’, as declared in the preamble to the Charter. However, contemporary security threats such as global terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction give rise to questions about whether the law is ‘sufficient’. The chapter then outlines the international legal framework and discusses some of the difficulties in interpreting or applying aspects of the law in the context of recent challenges to the international legal order. It considers whether this legal framework is still appropriate to deal with current security threats and whether the efficacy of the law is still recognized in the practice of States.

Part I International Law and Global Security, Ch.4 Transnationalization of Security

This chapter explains how ‘security’ is in a process of ‘transnationalization’, namely it is becoming a cross-border issue. Thus, in the twenty-first century, the primary examples of sources of ‘insecurity’—such as transnational terrorism, transnational crime, mass migration, cross-border environmental hazards, and problems of energy security—are no longer perceived as ‘domestic affairs’. The ensuing processes of transnationalization are naturally also processes of transnationalization of and by international law. The chapter then analyses three major framings used for the transnationalization of security, namely, ‘war’, ‘crime’, and ‘risk’ and their conceptualization in international law. It discusses the two major challenges faced in the transnationalization of security by international law: the problem of jurisdictional dysfunctionalities under international law and the problem of applying international human rights law to transnational security cases. Finally, the chapter evaluates the contribution of international law to the process of the transnationalization of security.

Part I International Law and Global Security, Ch.7 Global Security and Neurophilosophy: Understanding the Human Factor

This chapter evaluates the fundamental starting point in political theory: human nature. In doing so, it goes beyond conventional wisdom in International Relations. To understand conflict and to chart a way forward, we must re-examine our understanding of human nature. The two dominant theories of International Relations, Realism and Idealism/Internationalism, derived their intellectual origins from such contrasting and dichotomous views of human nature. One, exemplified by Thomas Hobbes, was pessimistic both about human nature and States. The other, exemplified by Immanuel Kant and to some extent Jean-Jacques Rousseau, believed in an innate perfectibility of humans, of States and the international society, which would evolve towards peace. Today, a growing body of evidence from neuroscience permits the re-examination of long-held claims about human nature and what it is that truly drives and motivates human behaviour. Neurophilosophy, the interdisciplinary field connecting findings from neuroscience and philosophy, is relevant for global security and for understanding what can propel good governance, peace, and security.