Global Governance and the UN: An Unfinished Journey

2 The Use of Force: War, Collective Security, and Peace Operations

2 the Use of Force: War, collective Security, and Peace operations •฀Antecedents:฀Taming฀the฀Use฀of฀Military฀Force •฀Knowledge฀Gaps:฀Still฀as฀Many฀Questions฀as฀Answers •฀Normative฀Gaps:฀Trying฀to฀Regulate฀the฀Use฀of฀Force •฀Policy฀Gaps:฀Ad-Hocism฀Has฀Its฀Advantages •฀Institutional฀Gaps:฀Lacunae฀Filled,฀Lacunae฀Remaining •฀Compliance฀Gaps:฀The฀Limitations฀of฀Chapter฀VII •฀Culture฀of฀Prevention฀and฀the฀Role฀of฀International฀ commissions •฀Multiple฀Levels฀and฀Multiple฀Actors฀in฀Global฀Governance:฀ the contemporary reality •฀Conclusion:฀Looking฀Ahead Given the un’s central mandate to maintain international peace and security and its creation from the ashes of World War ii, it is appropriate that this book’s first substantive chapter begin with the topic of security. contrary to general perceptions, the number of conflicts between and within states, the number of terrorist incidents, and the overall number of people killed in battle has declined in recent years.1 during the 40-year “Long peace” of the cold War,2 the number of armed conflicts within states increased each decade until the early 1990s but then began to drop. by the end of that decade, wars and lesser armed conflicts had declined by a third to a half, depending on the definitions and the dataset chosen. The cost in lives has declined to an even greater degree.3 one of the main explanations for these trends is the success of the un’s efforts to fulfill its security mandate. This chapter begins with a brief overview of important developments before the birth of the un and over the un’s lifetime as a prelude to a 56 internAtionAl secUrity discussion of the five gaps. it then explores the recent emphasis on prevention rather than reaction and the contribution by two international commissions. a concluding section discusses the multiple layers of actors and actions needed for the contemporary global governance of the use of force. Antecedents:฀Taming฀the฀Use฀of฀Military฀Force Establishing the un was a small but symbolically crucial step in taming the use of force as a means of settling quarrels among different members of the human family scattered across the globe. violence is endemic in human relations at all levels of social organization. War between states has been a feature of the current international system since its inception in 1648, following the peace of Westphalia. but military aggression is an affront to international norms regarding peace and security. War has traditionally performed certain functions in international relations from three points of view. From the perspective of states, it has served as an instrument of policy, a means to a desired end. Thus, in vietnam during the 1960s, the opposing sides shared one belief: that war was the most effective instrument for solving the dispute. From the perspective of the international system, war has determined the shape of the international order. it has been the arbiter of the creation, survival, and elimination of actors in the system; of the ebb and flow of political frontiers; and of the rise and decline of regimes. From the viewpoint of international society, war is both a manifestation of disorder that threatens the survival of the society and an instrument to enforce community values and goals. in the first sense, war is dysfunctional; in the second sense, it is the functional equivalent of a municipal police force. The problem of peace and order is not new. at the congress of vienna in 1814, major European powers established the concert of Europe system , transforming a military alliance for the single purpose of defeating napoleon into a longer-term loose political organization whose goal was to prevent one power from dominating Europe. The concert of Europe was an innovative attempt to construct new machinery to maintain the peace among the great powers. The hague conferences of 1899 and 1907 signaled the broadening of internationalrelations,in termsof both thenumberof participantsandthe international agenda. They both pointed to an emergent extra-European international system in which the lesser powers would demand a say. in addition, with their emphasis upon mediation, conciliation, and inquiry, the Use oF Force 57 the conferences demonstrated a rationalistic and legalistic approach to international disputes. The outbreak of world war in 1914 and 1939 discredited the old balance -of-power system that relied on the central role of the great powers. The two major international organizations of the twentieth century were created after world wars. people who were horrified by the destructiveness...