Unit 5
International Institutions and the Use of Force

Overview

This section will provide a closer examination of the role of international institutions in the regulation of the use of force and the enforcement of international law in this area. Whereas the previous section focused more on the practices of states, this section will consider how force has been both restricted and legitimated through international institutions in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This section will also examine the UN’s efforts to devise a legitimate form of intervention as represented in the Responsibility to Protect initiative and consider whether such interventions represent a more humanitarian use of force. From this section, you should gain an appreciation of the ways in which institutions attempt to provide legitimacy for the actions of states and non-state actors while regulating (or failing to regulate) the use of force. As you read the articles, take note of the theoretical arguments that Normand and af Jochnick are making about legitimation through legal means. Their concern is to address the ways that legality mystifies the increasingly violent means that are justified in warfare and the ways that the interests of powerful states are enshrined in law. While highly critical of the laws of war for not being humanitarian, the authors are not dismissing the potential for law to genuinely humanize the practices of warfare. As they state, “the requirements of global security and prosperity in an interdependent world may yet lead countries to develop laws that impose effective humanitarian limits on the conduct of war” (1994, 51).

Learning Objectives

When you have completed Unit 5, you should be able to achieve the following learning objectives:

1. Explain the legal foundation of war crimes jurisdiction
2. Describe the achievements and limitations of international war crimes tribunals
3. Explain why the co-operation of states matters for the proper functioning of the ICT for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
4. Distinguish between the pursuit of justice and the pursuit of political settlements
5. Explain the relationship between peace and justice
6. Explain why international law is considered soft law
7. Discuss the various mechanisms for the enforcement of international law
8. Explain the role of the UN Security Council in the enforcement of international law
9. Discuss the arguments against the use of military force to enforce international law
10. Explain how an emphasis on human security has changed the role of international law