International Security

Collective Defense and Collective Security

• Collective defense

• Defense against an external threat

• Exclusive

• Alliances

• Collective security

• Defense against an internal threat

• Inclusive

• The Security Council

Security for Whom?

• National security

• International security

• The official role of the UN

• Human security

• Environmental security

• What are the benefits of each of these?

• What might a critical response be?

Three Views of War

• Realist

• An inevitable byproduct of the state system

• Rationalist (liberal)

• Inherently inefficient, pathological

• Sociological

• Dependent on socially accepted practice

War Prevention and IR Theory

• Realist

• A stable balance of power

• Rationalist

• Well-designed (efficiency-maximizing) institutions

• Sociological

• Peaceful norms

Collective Security and the
UN Charter

• Chapter 6

• The Security Council as adjudicator

• Chapter 7

• The Security Council as enforcer of collective security

• Peacekeeping is not mentioned

• It’s often referred to as ‘chapter six and a half’

The Roles of UN Force

• Peace-keeping

• Humanitarian aid

• Peace-enforcing

• This is the only one explicitly discussed in the UN Charter

A History of UN Collective Security, Part 1

• UNTSO, and the UN as observer/mediator

• Korea, the GA, and ‘uniting for peace’

• The Suez Crisis, UNEF, and the invention of peacekeeping

• The Congo, and the danger of taking sides

• Cyprus (UNFICYP)

• The six-day war, and the failure of peacekeeping

• Lebanon and UNIFIL

• Namibia, Cambodia, and transitions from civil war

• Iraq, and the return of collective security

• Somalia, Bosnia, and humanitarian assistance

• Kosovo and agency specialization

• Iraq

Enforcing Collective Security

• The means of UN enforcement of collective security

• Force

• Economic sanctions

• Moral sanctions

Ethics and International Security

Under what conditions should the UN intervene?

Current UN Security Operations

• 19 current operations

• Budget of $5.3 billion

• 119 countries contributing 82,868 uniformed personnel

• Largest contributors - Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India

• Total of 2,392 fatalities

• Both successes and failures

Structural Reform of the UN Collective Security Role

• Creation of a legitimate central staff

• 3CI capabilities

• Dedicated UN forces

• An independent UN police force

• An independent UN military force

• Relevant questions:

• Under whose control?

• Funding

• Political ramifications

Other UN Involvement in International Security

• Good offices

• Rules/norms of conduct

• Geneva conventions

• Disarmament

• Chemical and biological

• Conventional (landmines)

• Nuclear (NPT, CTBT)