International Relations

Session 18: International Security

The United Nations
 UN and its intervention in States
Peacekeeping in the UN after the 1990’s has led to
challenge the traditional realist belief that
diplomats should ignore the internal affairs of
countries in order to preserve international
stability.
Internal instabilities may lead to international
disorder. Thus internal stability needs to be
ensured.
States also usually intervene as status in the UN is
an important national good, thus countries will
contribute to international peacekeeping efforts
even if they have no direct interest in
international conflict.
 Why is intervention needed?
1. After the Cold War, it was enough for
countries to be against the Soviet Union no
matter what there internal conditions were
like. Now the sovereignty of states can be
questioned as the security threat of that area
is over.
2. The process of decolonization has privileged the
right to statehood over justice (economic
success, defence, or the ability to create a just
system for new citizens).
That statehood should be unconditional was later
questioned. Attention had to be given to
individuals after independence. The world was
not hostile because of inter-state wars but also
because of civil conflict that could become
international.
 Intervention
Intervention is traditionally defined as a
deliberate incursion into a state without its
consent by some outside agency, in order to
change the functioning, policies and goals of
its governments and achieve effects that
favour the intervening agency.
Intervention in this traditional sense was
opposed to the principles of the UN enshrined
in Article 2(7) of the charter
The principles of non-intervention could only be
challenged based on threats to individual
rights.
‘The sovereignty, territorial integrity and
national unity of states must be fully
respected in accordance with the charter of
the United Nations. In this context,
humanitarian assistance should be provided
with he consent of the affected country and in
principle on the basis of an appeal by the
affected country’ (A/46/182)
There have been very limited cases where
intervention has been sanctioned by the UN,
especially on the basis of the above
resolution. In most cases the UNSC has not
given explicit approval for these actions.
Instead it uses indirect language such as
authorizing member states to ‘use any means
necessary’ to carry out its decisions.
Kosovo was the first case where intervention
was justified by the UN as there was a clear
humanitarian element. Here international
forces defied a sovereign state to protect
humanitarian standards.
The 2003 Iraq war was another case of
intervention and the legality of this
intervention is under question as there was
not explicit mandate by the UN to do so.
The increasing readiness of the UN to intervene
in states to promote internal justice for
individuals indicates a movement away from
unconditional sovereignty of countries to
global governance.
There is resistance to this idea and no clear
consensus. China for example feels that
Article 2(7) should be interpreted strictly, that
the consent the state is important when
intervening.
 The Iraq War 2003
In 2003 a US led coalition led an attack on Iraq,
removing Saddam Hussain from power.
The justification was the possession of weapons
of mass destruction by Iraq, rather than
human rights violations like in Kosovo.
That weapons of mass destruction were never
found fuelled claims that the war was
unjustified.
The only two justifications in the UN SC were
1.A resolution from 1991 that required the
destruction of Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction under UN supervision
2.A resolution passed in 2002 that threatened
‘serious consequences’ if this was not done.
Efforts to reach a SC resolution in 2003 to clearly
authorize the use of force against Iraq were
unsuccessful and vetoed by France and Russia.
USA and UK unilaterally decided to invade Iraq
under the Bush administration’s National
Security Strategy of September 2002: ‘we will
be prepared to act apart when our interests
and unique responsibilities require’