Term Paper

Joanna Mushahwar

40167280

Concordia University

1952 Words

10 Pages

International Organizations Do Not

Always Intervene In War Successfully

POLI 205

Introduction to International Relations

Axel Hueselmayer

April 18th 2021

Introduction

International Organizations are a building block to our modern world. From the early 1800’s to

this day, more than a thousand International Organizations have been formed, each to fulfil its

unique purpose. The high increase in the number of International Organizations in the last half

century can be attributed to decolonization, globalization and most importantly, the increase of

global issues, including but not limited to war.

Based upon the general status quo, an International Organizations main goal is to secure peace,

peace which may be breached by a number of issues, however throughout this report we will be

focusing on war. War by definition is a condition of military conflict between two or more

countries or groups within a country. However International Organizations do not always

intervene in war successfully and by putting to use and analyzing theories of international

relations, more specifically the theories of neorealism we will be able to understand and explain

the reasoning behind this.

Through the specific use of the Palestine Israel conflict, the statement and purpose of this essay

‘International Organizations do not always intervene in war successfully’ will be explored and

explained with the help of the theories of neorealism. This will be done by speaking about

International Organizations in general and in the case of the chosen specific conflict in section I,

war in general and in the case of the chosen specific conflict in section II and lastly, the theories

of neorealism on the whole concept in section III.

International Organizations
International Organizations, also known as IO’s have been around since the 19th century

mediating and attempting to resolve conflicts. They are based on voluntary membership, no party

can be forced to take part. International Organizations consist of states that are sovereign and are

considered as members, they also have staff who however do not represent a country, but the

organization itself. Each member state is represented by ambassadors who have trust from the

state they represent and amongst other ambassadors.

There are three important implications of realism on International Organizations, those being;

(1) Since states are motivated by fear of each other (today's friend could become tomorrow's

enemy), cooperation is difficult.

(2) International bodies are irrelevant and only states matter. Meaning,  the allocation of power

among states determines the weight, scale, number, and function of international organizations.

The assumption is that organizations are nothing more than mirrors for the state and have no

autonomous standing.

(3) It's just about relative gains since survival is a zero-sum game, what A gains is what B loses.

As a result, you must be certain that your rival cannot get ahead of you. This means that being

poor and ahead is preferable to being poor and behind.

The UN, United Nations was established in 1945 and is an intergovernmental body whose

mission is to preserve international peace and security, cultivate close relations between nations,

promote international cooperation, and serve as a focal point for harmonizing national activities,

the perfect example of an IO. The United Nations has several rules, with the main goal of

protecting its member nations, spoken of by Evans and Sahnoun, this includes; forbidding
military interventions (including but not limited to humanitarian intervention) in sovereign

nations, however it does have two exceptions being; when it is ordered by the security council

and in self-defense.

Israel, regarded to as the Holy Land to Jews, Christians and Muslims joined the UN on May 11th

1949 after exactly a year of being created, as its’ 59th member. Whereas Palestine is only a “non-

member observer state” as of 2011. Despite the two being part of the United Nations, little has

been done by the UN to intervene and stop this conflict and violation of human rights which has

been on going since the year 1948.

The War

War has the direct opposite definition to peace, the two different situations come from the same

object, comparable with the two sides of a coin. Robert Jervis, known for his concept the

‘security dilemma’ states that “many means by which state tries to increase their own security”

however by doing that the security of others in decreased, and that exactly is the dilemma in the

situation. This leads to there being status quo states and aggressor states. Status quo states are the

ones who want not to rock the boat and break the existing equilibrium, they are comfortable with

how things currently are. On the other hand aggressor states are the challengers who want to

disturb the current and ongoing equilibrium to increase their own security, which leads to

paradoxes. However this does not explain the Palestine Israel conflict.

According to Liddel-Harts explanation of war, has two sides, the first being that “Purpose of war

is to establish a more favorable peace”, something is missing in the present peace, and war is one
way to satisfy the lack, or it may be for territory. The second being that states go to war due to

state of peace that exists without war being less preferable than the state of peace that would

exist with war, states may feel insecure. Both these explanations, but especially the first depicts

the Palestine Israel conflict to the best degree.

One of the world's oldest and most contentious disputes is the Israeli-Palestinian war. It is, at its

heart, a confrontation between two self-determination groups claiming the same territory: the

Jewish Zionist initiative and the Palestinian nationalist project. However, it is much more

complex than that. The two sides and their defenders have seemingly litigated any truth and

historical detail small and wide. Palestinians have been battling against what a UN prosecutor

once identified as Israel's ethnic cleansing since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948.

Between 1947 and 1949, at least 15,000 Palestinians were killed, and 750,000 out of a total

population of 1.9 million were forced to flee their homelands. More than 7,000 Palestinians and

1,100 Israelis have died in the conflict between only 2000 and 2014, let alone how many since

the start of the conflict in 1948, 73 years ago. In the present day, Israel controls 80% of what

used to be Palestine whilst also in violation of many UN resolutions calling for an end to such

actions, Israel maintains a crushing embargo on Gaza and seeks to build illegal settlements on

occupied territory.

Neorealism on International Organizations & War

The concept of Realism in the study of international relations is one of high levels of importance,

emphasizing on the competitive and conflictual side of international relations. The origins of
realism are often attributed to some of humanity's oldest historical writings even ranging

between 431 and 404 BCE. Realism can be split into two subsections, classical realism spoken of

by Morgenthau and structural realism (neorealism) spoken of by Walt, Waltz and Maersheimer.

Classical realism is an approach to the study and practice of world affairs. It stresses the position

of the nation-state and assumes that all nations are driven by national interests, or at the very

least, national interests masked as moral considerations. Whereas in neorealism or structural

realism, power is the most critical force in international affairs. In the explanation behind the

statement “International Organizations do not always intervene in war successfully” in the case

of the Palestine Israel conflict in which this essay is based upon, the theory of neorealism will be

utilized mainly.

All states pursue stability, according to the neorealist central theory. Neorealism is concerned

with the stability of nations rather than individuals. States will do everything possible to ensure

their own safety, this is exactly what is taking place in the Palestine Israel conflict on both sides.

The center of the controversy between Israelis and Palestinians is a fundamental disagreement

over security versus territory. Only an arrangement allowing all sides to trade protection for

Israel in return for land for the Palestinians will bring about a resolution to the dispute, a

resolution suitable for both ends is yet to be obtained.

A state will engage in mediation if its security is not jeopardized, according to neorealist theory.

An examination of the Palestine Israel crisis shed light on the complexity of international

organizations and institutions' partnerships and corporations. For example, the two parties have
pursued UN cooperation in order to ensure their own security. For their protection, both parties

seek the assistance of international organizations and states. Israel having the strong support of

the United States and Palestine having that of the Arab world, both economically and through

military.

The neorealist theory explains the reason behind why the United Nations has not intervened in

this war and generally others of this nature successfully, it is due to the fact that only an

agreement allowing both parties to exchange security for Israel in exchange for land for the

Palestinians will bring the conflict to an end; however, a solution that is acceptable to all parties

has yet to be found. This is because, with reference to the neorealist theory, both sides want more

power, in this case in terms of land and security and a resolution with a suitable and acceptable

amount of each for both sides has not been made, the equilibrium has not been found.

All in all with consideration that this conflict has been ongoing since the year 1948 with

International Organizations not able to intervene successfully it becomes a question if IO’s even

have the capabilities to intervene successfully in all wars.

Conclusion

In conclusion, through the use of the neorealist theory the purpose of this “International

Organizations do not always intervene in war successfully” essay was explained with the help of

the Palestine Israel war as an example it was made clear that the reason behind this is power, in

the end it truly is the most critical force in international affairs.

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