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Executive summary: • Cyber operations have become a reality in contemporary armed conflict. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is concerned by the potential human cost arising from the increasing use of cyber operations during armed conflicts. • In the ICRC's view, international humanitarian law (IHL) limits cyber operations during armed conflicts just as it limits the use of any other weapon, means or method of warfare in an armed conflict, whether new or old. • Affirming the applicability of IHL does not legitimize cyber warfare, just as it does not legitimize any other form of warfare. Any use of force by States – cyber or kinetic – remains governed by the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant rules of customary international law, in particular the prohibition against the use of force. International disputes must be settled by peaceful means, in cyberspace as in all other domains. • It is now critical for the international community to affirm the applicability of international humanitarian law to the use of cyber operations during armed conflicts. The ICRC also calls for discussions among governmental and other experts on how existing IHL rules apply and whether the existing law is adequate and sufficient. In this respect, the ICRC welcomes the intergovernmental discussions currently taking place in the framework of two United Nations General Assembly mandated processes. • Events of recent years have shown that cyber operations, whether during or outside armed conflict, can disrupt the operation of critical civilian infrastructure and hamper the delivery of essential services to the population. In the context of armed conflicts, civilian infrastructure is protected against cyber attacks by existing IHL principles and rules, in particular the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. IHL also affords special protection to hospitals and objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, among others. • During armed conflicts, the employment of cyber tools that spread and cause damage indiscriminately is prohibited. From a technological perspective, some cyber tools can be designed and used to target and harm only specific objects and to not spread or cause harm indiscriminately. However, the interconnectivity that characterizes cyberspace means that whatever has an interface with the Internet can be targeted from anywhere in the world and that a cyber attack on a specific system may have repercussions on various other systems. As a result, there is a real risk that cyber tools are not designed or used – either deliberately or by mistake – in compliance with IHL. • States' interpretation of existing IHL rules will determine the extent to which IHL protects against the effects of cyber operations. In particular, States should take clear positions about their commitment to interpret IHL so as to preserve civilian infrastructure from significant disruption and to protect civilian data. The availability of such positions will also influence the assessment of whether the existing rules are adequate or whether new rules may be needed. If States see a need to develop new rules, they should build on and strengthen the existing legal framework – including IHL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contends that Article 51 of the United Nations Charter (UN), which gives inherent right to states for individual or collective self-defense, should be construed by taking a greater account of the charter as an integrated whole. This approach can resolve the conflict of interpretation between the U.S., which wants a more expansive interpretation, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), wants a more restrictive interpretation. It explains that Chapter 51 aims to create a collective self-defense without limiting national security.

This paper explores the policies of the United Nations and specialized institutions concerning the coordination of international community efforts to combat terrorist threats. Terrorism remains a significant threat to international security, despite the war in Ukraine taking priority in terms of insecurity. In this regard, international cooperation aimed at countering terrorism remains relevant, and the actions taken between 2015 and 2018 must be expanded and intensified. Such cooperation requires the participation of a broad spectrum of actors in international relations, including states, governmental international organizations, and civil society. Terrorism continues to be a global problem, and multilateral cooperation is both timely and necessary to counter it. Terrorist movements have not taken a break, despite their lack of large-scale actions, as they continue to express themselves through the activities of crisis cells or lone wolves. Consequently, prophylaxis methods must be supplemented, considering the new forms of terrorism expression. The United Nations organization continues to prove itself as the institution authorized to develop the legal framework and coordinate international efforts to counter this scourge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Científica General José María Córdova is the property of Escuela Militar de Cadetes General Jose Maria Cordova and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Climate change has increasingly come to be viewed as a security threat, as well as a ‘threat multiplier’. The impact of this has become a cause for major international concern, especially in light of national contributions to climate change, by virtue of heavy industrial dependence on polluting processes. To address this issue, certain national lobbies have suggested that the United Nations Security Council should be made legislate on the issue, given its bearing on international security. This approach has been supported by nations and blocs like the United States, the EU, the Pacific Islands, etc. An alternate lobby, comprising states like India, have argued against this approach due to the UNSC’s fractured mandate, and expressed their wish to keep deliberations more representative. This paper shall evaluate the context of climate change, the legal principles underlying it, and argue in favor of the Indian stand that the UNSC is not the appropriate institution to make policy decisions on this matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women have long been excluded from peace and security processes, which include disarmament, despite being disproportionately affected by weapons. Emphasizing, the role of women in peace and security processes began to gain meaning only after 2000, when the United Nations Resolution, Resolution 1325 entered into force. In order for women to participate equally in such processes, the resolution emphasizes the necessity of women's participation as agents of positive change and not as weak and powerless victims. Contributing to a society where women can live freely in harmony without being marginalized. The purpose of this paper is to explain the different roles that women have in creating security policies. Further, this paper explains the role of women in initiatives, peacekeeping and peace-building. The paper also explains the international mechanisms that promote the involvement of women in peace and security processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cadernos Argentina Brasil is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Today's diplomacy is an ambiguous phenomenon which involves many diverse tools and actions undertaken by national and international actors. Diplomacy is undoubtedly one of a key element of international peace and security as it enables disputes and conflicts to be prevented. There is a host of measures and instruments that can be exercised at any stage of a crisis, among which are special political missions. This paper is an attempt to discuss the nature and role of a special political mission in preventive actions. The main attention is paid to the missions established by the United Nations and by the European Union. The considerations resulted in listing strengths of the special political missions and in identifying the challenges that should be faced in order to increase an effectiveness of the missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alternative Politics / Alternatif Politika is the property of Alternatif Politika and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The United Nations Security Council is at the centre of the international security system. However, even after several decades the Council has had only minimal changes in its basic structure and composition, despite the fact that the international environment has changed considerably. The opportunity provided by the end of the Cold War to revitalise the Council was coupled by increasing number of voices calling for reform of this extraordinary organisation. But reform has proved to be a very difficult thing to accomplish in the case of the Security Council. This paper looks at the issue of Security Council reform from the prism of the right of veto and the perspectives of the permanent members. It argues that although the attitude of the P-5 is not favourable for reform, it is not the only stumbling block in its way. The lack of consensus among the rest of the world has also a role in prolonging this issue over decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the discussions on peacekeeping in the United Nations during the 1980s and up to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. It demonstrates that the call for wider implementation of UN peacekeeping operations and for the broadening of their functions began in the final stages of the Cold War. This was not a result of a shift in the policies of the Western powers or the work of the UN Secretariat; rather, the major source of change was an alliance between Western states which were veterans in contributing to peacekeeping operations and Eastern European states led by the Soviet Union. These two groups of states identified a need for multifunctional United Nations peacekeeping operations as the appropriate instrument for dealing with conflicts in the new world order of the 1990s. Many UN member states supported the new ideas which suited their myriad interests, albeit with reservations on several new functions of the operations. Therefore, with the end of the Cold War the international community found in peacekeeping the most uncontested instrument available to maintain international peace and security. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The political trajectory that characterised post-cold war epoch underscores a dangerous centrifugal trend in the nature of violent conflict; civil unrest and guerrilla warfare that undermine the charter of United Nations of promoting international peace and security, and the discourse of peace coexistence at the forefront of international cooperation agenda in Africa, South East Europe and Middle East. The international response to this new wave of conflicts has been articulated through the structural mechanism of United Nations as peacekeeping intervention. Despite the successes and failures associated with UN peacekeeping interventions, the trickle of studies spawned by this quest has, developed into a flood of normative and empirical analyses of various aspects and process of International peacekeeping, while limited in unravel the factor that responsible for these successes and failures. This paper argues that the national interests of the super-powers are the potent factors that will determine the success and/or failure of UN peacekeeping operations, using peacekeeping experience in the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) as a potential case. In this paper, an attempt is made to look at the framework of global politics within which peacekeeping unfolds and how it applies not only in DRC but also in Macedonia, Liberia and Somalia, thereby making it possible to develop an analytical construct for International peacekeeping successes and failures. The paper then concludes that given the contemporary geopolitics and the established structure of UN Security Council, if all super-powers are overtly and strongly committed to any UN peacekeeping operations and genuinely committed to resolving disputes in the trouble spots of the world without any primary or secondary interest in the conflicts involved, then the UN peacekeeping operations will be successful in restoring and sustaining permanent peace in the affected state(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proposals for the internationalization of civil aviation and the formation of an international air force blossomed in Britain, France and the United States between 1920 and 1945. The proposals were promoted by liberal internationalist constituencies in these three countries and reveal an enthusiasm for technocracy and technology within liberal internationalism. Aviation, internationalists argued, was too dangerous and held too much potential to be left in the hands of warring nations. It should instead be controlled by an international organization for the benefit of international peace and prosperity. Proposals were linked to the League of Nations in the interwar period and to the proposed United Nations Organization during the second world war. They were discussed at the 1932 League of Nations Geneva disarmament conference, and in 1944, at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference and the Chicago conference on international civil aviation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information about several papers discussed at a conference held November 1-3, 2010 sponsored by the Danish Institute for International Studies on the issue of justice, security and international law. The topics include the impact of the justice system on the gender dynamics on the issue land tenure in Botswana. Information on the role of the United Nations and the international and transnational organizations on this issue are also presented.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the 2004 Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, "A more secure world: Our shared responsibility" (under the heading "A more effective United Nations for the twenty-first century" stated: "The United Nations was never intended to be a utopian exercise. It was meant to be a collective security system that worked." However, several authors in recent years have asserted that the victorious powers merely wanted to maintain the status quo and their privileged positions, and never intended the system to work and give up those privileges. This paper, however, argues the contention that the UN was never designed to function effectively, is a myth, and it does not take into account important aspects and innovations that presented decisive new developments that originated with the United Nations. Thus the international court, which had in the interwar period been an institution outside the framework of the League of Nations Covenant, became an integral part of the UN system, making it more closely resemble a government with legislative, executive and judicial functions. Even more prominent, concerning the executive branch, the Security Council, unlike what had been the case with the League Council, opened itself to instigate members to delegate powers for its effective functioning. This was a most significant innovation that would allow for democratic process in the organization and defence of peace. Finally, a new principle in international law, i.e. the concept of a "transitional period" for world organization, was conceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cultures et Conflits is the property of Centre d'Etudes sur les Conflits, Revue Cultures & Conflits and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

International sanction laws are necessary to provide guidance for coercive actions of a non-military nature directed at governments or groups whose conduct is considered a threat to international security. Humanitarian exemptions must be an inherent part of such laws so as to protect the innocent from repercussions of sanctions inconsistent with the International Bill of Human Rights and other humanitarian law. This article, using sanctions against Iraq as an example, questions the adequacy of the existing legal and procedural framework in ensuring such protection. It points to the intangibility of the relevant body of law as well as its jurisdictional limitations. The absence of laws of precedent and defined standards has facilitated arbitrary application. Imprecisely formulated United Nations resolutions and the lack of ongoing monitoring of the impact of sanctions on the human condition have further encouraged a subjective and punishment-oriented approach. Taking into account the articles by Craven and O'Connell in this symposium, this commentary outlines safeguards which must be built into sanction regimes in order to ensure that international law is applied for the protection of the civilian population while coercive action is taken to force perpetrators to comply with international norms of behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifaceted 21st-century security challenges, such as terrorism, pandemics, illegal migration, and drug trafficking, permanently question the adequacy of both state and global organizations to guarantee general wellbeing, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights. In this sense, the United Nations (UN) has received the brunt of the criticism despite its growing responsibilities, the complexity of the threats, and its decision-making structure’s limitations. This paper examines the UN’s effectiveness in addressing Colombia’s major security challenges, suggesting that providing adequate assistance to build state capacity is key to reducing power vacuums that foster both deviant globalization and embryonic security challenges.

This article offers an analysis of the influence of the anti-mercenary norm on the United Nations' use of services provided by private military and security companies (PMSCs). It follows a constructivist approach which focuses on violations of the anti-mercenary norm within the UN system and on the justifications and condemnations of these violations in official UN documents. The findings suggest that while the anti-mercenary norm is no longer puritanical, two key aspects of the norm--the lack of a proper cause and the lack of control--remain influential within the UN system. Although all parts of the UN system nowadays routinely use a wide variety of services of PMSCs and the UN Secretary-General officially sanctioned security outsourcing in 2011, the UN continues to insist that it is only using PMSCs as a last resort, when no other options are available. The continuing need to justify the use of PMSCs' services suggests that this practice challenges both the long-established identity of the UN as a key anti-mercenary norm entrepreneur and its ontological security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the strategy of Secretary-General António Guterres for modernizing the United Nation (U.N.), and examines how he can help define the contemporary role of the intergovernmental organization and prepare it for the challenges of the future. Topics discussed include the organizational restructuring of the U.N., Guterres' efforts to build confidence in his leadership, and his advancement of a preventive platform that promotes global peace and security. Also mentioned are proposals in Guterres' 2018 report which include the appointment of a victims rights advocate, the adoption of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the establishment of a High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation.

The article reports on the disarmament issues between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United Nations has a special session for disarmament, whose goal is to discover new possibilities and approaches to the armaments problem. The United Nations also suggested innovations that would further put the United States and the Soviet Union into certain terms of conditions. This would include freezing of all strategic systems in anticipation of a new Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty agreement.

The article reports on the revised three-stage disarmament plan presented by Great Britain and France during the meeting of the United Nations Disarmament Subcommittee on March 19, 1956 in London, England. Such plan is based on the preliminary creation of a United Nations control inspectorate. Its first stage would include a freeze on military manpower, expenditure, and levels of armaments while its second stage would call for reduction of all conventional forces to half the agreed-upon levels and limitation on all nuclear tests. Furthermore, its third stage would see conventional forces to half the agreed levels and a moral ban on the manufacture, testing, and use of nuclear weapons.

The article focuses on the cooperation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union for maintaining peace and the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means. Both countries recognized the relationship between international peacekeeping and disarmament in the "Joint Statement of Agreed Principles for Disarmament Negotiations," on September 20, 1961. The agreement includes an obligation of the nations to place, at the disposal of the United Nations, agreed manpower necessary for an international peace force to be equipped with agreed types of armaments.

The article discusses some highlights about the conference of the United Nations on disarmament issues. The eight independent members of Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament lead as sponsors and prime negotiators of resolutions. A quasi-disarmament measure on the declaration of legal principles governing the activities of states in outer space was approved unanimously by the assembly. Most discussions occurred on criteria for setting up atom-free zones while discussion was expected on measures to prevent surprise attacks.

The article discusses the issue about the disarmament of arms control in the United Nations. Among the problems of the future historians will be the question whether indeed there had ever been negotiations in any important sense in 1945-55. For several years, the customary sequence has been for one of the Western representatives to start the session by addressing a series of questions to the Soviet opposite. The Western delegates made it plain that they trust no Soviet promise that an international inspectorate cannot patrol.

The article offers information about the proceedings of the debate on a resolution sponsored by seven nations and introduced by the U.S. urging the quick establishment of an international atomic agency and calling for a technical conference under United Nations (U.N.) auspices in 1955. The debate was initiated by the Political Committee of the U.N. General Assembly during November 1955. This event is the first step in initiating a modified version of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower's atomic pool proposal of December 1953. The event ended on November 23, 1955 with the unanimous acceptance of the resolution after the defeat of two amendments to it proposed by the Soviet Union.

The article focuses on the author's suggestions which might contribute to the efforts of the United Nations (U.N.) towards disarmament in 1954. The author suggests that the U.N. must have a body-like, scientific and technical committee which will be composed of a scientific representative who would avoid political issues and render a unanimous report. Furthermore, the author said that a research staff set up by the U.N. Secretariat and charged with reporting on scientific and technical aspects of atomic controls would also be a good device. Finally, if the most is to be made of its opportunity, the U.N. should dispense with its statesmen for a while, and bring in the experts.

The article offers information on the relationship of atomic power and world security. The creation of the atomic bomb and other weapons of mass destruction has heightened the issue of world security. In this instance, science is more geared towards annihilation rather than progress. The actions that the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission has done relative to the concern of arms control are underlined. The opposing views of the United States and Russia regarding the nonproliferation of arms are also mentioned.

Abstract: The 2014 report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea marked a watershed moment in international awareness and action on North Korea's human rights problem. It sparked widespread international condemnation, and prompted anxiety and insecurity on the part of North Korea, evident in the North's immediate response. This included a verbal counter‐offensive, some surprising willingness to engage with UN mechanisms, and a range of diplomatic engagement. I argue that contrary to the popular perception of North Korea as impervious to external criticism, when viewed through the conceptual lens of ontological security, the North's response to the UN COI revealed a desire to defend and secure its image in the eyes of the international community. While acknowledging continuing obstacles to a genuine normative transition in its approach to human rights, the article supports a deeper understanding of North Korea's self‐identity to guide measures to bring about change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that UN Security Council responses to internal armed conflict are the product of the interests as well as the causal and principled beliefs of its engaged permanent members. As China has grown from a regional to a global actor, it has become a more active participant in Council deliberations. The cases of East Timor and Darfur highlight the ways in which Council decisions have come to reflect Chinese understanding of the causes of peace and conflict and appropriate peace strategies. The future of UN peace operations will depend on the ability of the Council's engaged participants to discover shared interests and points of convergence in their causal and principled beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers pessimistic outlook for the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, global governance and the United Nations. He argues that Trump's America First approach to foreign policy imposes the costs and burdens on others, like the 45 percent surcharge on Chinese imports. He suggests that Trump's impetuous decision style is not good for international security and U.S. foreign policy. He also argues that Trump's background as a chief executive officer (CEO) is not compatible with collaborative decision making.

The article reports on the negotiations on atomic energy control. It mentions that Secretary-General Trygve Lie has called attention to the danger and probable increase in the bacteriological and lethal chemical weapons. He proposes that the General Assembly of the United Nations take up this problem as well when it debates the atomic control deadlock in one of its sessions in Paris on September 21, 1948. Frederick H. Osborn declares his belief that work should continue to develop a system of arms regulation to be carried out when conditions of international confidence has settled.

The article discusses the review of the report "Uniting Our Strengths for Peace: Politics, Partnership and People," by the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) of the United Nations (UN). Topics discussed include the importance of the peace operations and the monumental challenges faced by the UN provided by the report, the influence of the overarching political realities on the deliberations of HIPPO, and the extension of the peace operations of HIPPO beyond the deployment of military peacekeepers traditionally.

Since its creation in 1945, the UN has steadily increased the ambition and the scale of its peace and security agenda in conflict-affected countries. The development of peacekeeping is seen as a global means to achieve its aspirations of international peace and security. Yet, there are problems with the transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding as local populations' perceptions of conflicts become an integral part of these interventions. Concerns about the control and protection of processes used to collect local views of peace "spoilers" complicate UN operations. The questions of who gathers local input, from whom it is sourced and how to secure the process against subjective opinions, highlight key obstacles to sustainable post-conflict peacebuilding. This study argues that while it is unlikely United Nations interventions will be effective without turning "local," more work is needed to counter the elasticity of this concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction and cooperation between United Nations and the peace movements world over have grown steadily. Much of it is done at the UN arms such as UNESCO, ECOSOC, UNIDA and UNIDIR. United Nations is an organization of sovereign states, while peace movements are part of civil society. Certain problems and challenges in the relationship between the UN and peace movement are necessarily of a permanent nature, producing pressure and tensions. Peace movements can well support the UN and regard it as the most important peace organization, but at the same time their legitimate task is to exert constant pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2011 Libya campaign highlighted the divergence of interests between France and Germany within the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in matters of Middle East and global security. This divergence calls for a reassessment of the meaning of their bilateral cooperation, as defined in the Treaty of Friendship between France and Germany, otherwise known as the Élysée Treaty, signed on 22 January 1963 by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Charles de Gaulle. This article focuses on France, which engaged militarily in Libya cooperating with the United Kingdom as its principal European partner. Germany, for reasons explained by its history, political culture, and the nature of its federal system, chose to abstain in the United Nations vote to authorize the campaign. These differences between France and Germany suggest a contrast in their respective security and, particularly defense, policy objectives on the fiftieth anniversary of the Élysée Treaty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a lecture given by former under-secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) Margaret Joan Anstee, given at the UN Office at Vienna in 2011. In the lecture, Anstee discusses international security in terms of global peace-building and peacekeeping. The speech also includes information on economic and social development, narcotics, and the role of women.

Two assumptions underpin much of the literature that has examined the links between HIV/AIDS and security: (1) that HIV/AIDS is now firmly established as an international security issue; and (2) that Resolution 1308, adopted by the UN Security Council in July 2000, was the decisive moment in the securitization process. This article questions both of those assumptions. It argues that even within the Security Council, HIV/AIDS’ status as a bona fide threat to international peace and security is not entirely secure. Despite the fact that the Resolution was adopted unanimously, there is considerable doubt over the extent to which the Council members were persuaded that HIV/AIDS is genuinely a threat to international peace and security. Furthermore, the Council's subsequent actions suggest a retreat from the issue. The article moves on to examine statements made in and by some of the other key UN System bodies grappling with HIV/AIDS. Focusing in particular on the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and UNAIDS, it is argued that the international security framing of HIV/AIDS has not generally achieved a great deal of traction within these bodies. Alternative framings, in particular international development and human rights, occur far more frequently. This raises issues for our understanding of both securitization theory and the global governance of HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its newness, the concept of the responsibility to protect (R2P) looks back at a stellar career. It has been the subject of numerous conferences and academic publications and has been affirmed by the major UN bodies. Indeed, if one were to assess the development of an international norm by the amount of academic attention and general rhetorical support it enjoys, one could be inclined to believe that the responsibility to protect is rapidly evolving into a norm of customary international law.This article subjects the R2P hype to critical scrutiny and asks probing questions about R2P's viability as a norm. Beneath the thin veneer of rhetorical acceptance of R2P lies a range of hotly disputed issues – in particular but not exclusively regarding the concept's implications for the use of force – which are unlikely to be resolved in the near future. In this article I examine R2P's potential to ‘ripen’ into an international norm. I argue that in the absence of an intersubjective consensus about what R2P actually means, the concept's chances to ‘harden’ into a norm of customary international law are remote. I posit that R2P cannot be considered a ‘new norm’ or an ‘emerging norm’ as it is frequently called, because the vast majority of states simply does not want to be legally bound to save strangers in remote regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A steady reduction in the United Nations presence in East Tim or coupled with failure to reach an agreement with Australia concerning control over vast offshore oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea raised fears of East Timor (Timor Leste) sliding towards becoming a "failed state" only three years after finally achieving independence from Indonesia after a quarter of a century of violent struggle. The draft agreement between Australia and East Timor on sharing the contested seabed resources lying between them, finalized in May 2005, has the potential to transform this scenario. This article explores the key economic and security challenges facing East Timoras a prelude to an evaluation of the question of maritime boundary delimitation in the Timor Sea, including analysis of the positions of the contending parties and assessment as to whether the new agreement represents a just and equitable resolution of the dispute (in Australian parlance, a "fair go") for East Timor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on U.S. and Asian state behavior, and UN and Asia-Pacific organizations, I explore the argument that a reputation for effectiveness in the counterterrorist campaign has become more significant than a reputation for defending human rights. I conclude that only where human rights issues had established a reasonably firm domestic and international institutional foothold before September 11, 2001, does a reputation built on concern for the protection of human rights retain an ability to constrain certain of the illiberal trends associated with the counterterrorist agenda. Nevertheless, even in these instances, counterterrorist requirements are shaping institutional behavior and rhetoric and depleting the resources available for dealing with human rights abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A century after the birth of a father of peacekeeping, Ralph Bunche, UN peace operations have changed dramatically. The narrowly defined, lightly armed, strictly neutral operations of Bunche's day have become complex, multidisciplinary state-building operations. Then, peace-keeping buttressed essentially self-enforcing cease-fires; now, it aims to build the foundations of a self-renewing peace. These changes reflect six deeper shifts: the end of the Cold War; engagement with "internal" conflicts; rising regional organizations; North-South politics; the U.S.-UN relationship; and changes in peace operation mandates. These shifts create three future challenges: state building; the reconception of sovereignty; and the need for realism. The December 2004 High-Level Panel report proposes modest steps toward meeting those challenges, but the burden of realizing the proposed framework rests squarely with UN member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]