Presentation by Andreas Schleicher Tackling the School Absenteeism Crisis 30 ...
Political Science 7 – International Relations - Power Point #12
1. Dr. Tabakian’s Political Science 7
Modern World Governments – Spring 2013
Supplemental Power Point Material #12
2. LECTURE HIGHLIGHTS (1)
• Washington’s Backyard Dominance
• North-South Capital Flows
• Foreign Debt Is A Political Issue
• American Use Of Trade As Weapon
• Transition To Democracy
• Democracy – Change From Within
• 5 Generalizations Of Democracy
• Roles Of International Organizations
• The United Nations
• The UN System
• Purpose Of The UN
• Structure Of The UN
3. LECTURE HIGHLIGHTS (2)
• International Law
• The World Court
• Law And Sovereignty: Laws of Diplomacy
• Just-War Doctrine
• Human Rights: Individuals Versus Sovereignty
• Human Rights Institutions
• War Crimes
• Evolution Of World Order
4. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (1)
Colonialism instilled harsh lessons on Central America that
continued in form from the time independent states were
established in Latin America in the 1820’s. In preparation
for independence, or any other form of internal
revolutionary actions, local elites transferred political
power unto themselves outside control of external powers
stretching from areas like Madrid or Lisbon. Thus, the
channels of control instilled by the colonial period remnant
in social and economic lines of control remained intact.
Remaining prevalent towards the 21st Century, Latin
America remains in constant struggle to determine its own
destiny that has in a way been preordained through violent
colonial subjugation.
5. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (2)
Another factor that remains pertinent are the indigenous
people who survived the conquest, recovering their
numbers and still living in nearly all of the regions where
they lived in the eighteenth century. They have also
expanded into new territories, establishing themselves in
urban and industrial societies. There remains segments,
including the indigenous people of Chiapas who are mostly
Mayan who are forced to engage in revolutionary tactics in
order to survive. A rebellion led by the Zapatista Liberation
Front on January 1, 1994 ignited in the state of Chiapas in
southern Mexico. The causes of their struggle are
comparable to a majority of the indigenous population as
well.
6. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (3)
Forced to endure hard labor under conditions of servitude
for centuries, their issues to date are primarily the lack of
land available for ownership. It is this reality that forces
indigenous peoples like those in Chiapas to work in
despicable conditions for huge landowners. Seeking
continued financial support from international financial
institutions required Latin American countries to make
structural adjustments to their national economies. In
times, these loans became conditional on such
adjustments, requiring their governments to cut costs and
inflation by enacting fiscal reform, monetary restraint,
cutting back jobs and services in the public sector and
stopping government subsidies for basic goods or
petroleum.
7. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (4)
Furthermore, wages were to be frozen in order to check
inflation, thus keeping wage costs at bay in the
increasingly important export industries. The end of the
Cold War brought about a swift disappearance of a strong
bipolar system to one dominated by Western Capitalism
and the United States. In short order, economic policy
recommendations was dominated by the orthodox
capitalist thinking advocated by the United States and her
ally the United Kingdom.
8. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (5)
Neoliberalism marched into Central America, emphasizing
key concepts such as the radical reduction of the size of
government and its spending, fiscal and monetary reform,
the liberalization of commerce through the elimination of all
tariffs, allowing foreign investment, privatization and the
elimination of government subsidies for essential
consumer goods. Brought into being in order to prepare
the people for full integration into the global economy and
most importantly, free trading with the West, neoliberalism
further instilled radicalism among those whom revolutions
failed to uplift. This constant trend of rapid assault on Latin
America has not allowed any seedling of stability to take
root among its inhabitants.
9. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (6)
Foreign influence, mostly from the United States is widely
acknowledged by Central America as an assault on their
right to determine what road to take in deciding their own
destiny. Centuries of colonization, Latin America’s 500 year
old tradition of rebellion and revolution has not been
terribly kind to its people. There are many factors that
together have ignited revolution and abrupt political
change. In time perhaps there will be a homegrown
ideology that will seek to qualm revolution, instead
preserving peace and promoting prosperity for all. Now
that the Cold War is over, perhaps the United States will in
time cease with the promotion of brutal juntas, instead
encouraging a true people’s revolution for life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.
10. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (7)
The struggle now pertained to self-liberation, and liberation
from foreign powers. The inherited political and cultural
traditions asserted an authoritarian proclivity, ingraining
itself into the political culture of Latin America. During the
Cold War, the United States sought to preserve stability in
South America, thus often supporting dictatorial regimes in
order to thwart communist influence. Thus, the Cold War
and the Cuban embrace of socialism encouraged the
United States to suppress progressive political movements
during this period.
11. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (8)
Encouraging military and civilian allies in Latin America to
think in terms of the national security state, the United
States sponsored counterinsurgency training for their
militaries at the School of the Americas in the Panama
Canal Zone and at U.S. military bases such as those found
at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The end of the Cold War
allowed the world to move out of the western phase as the
focal point moved to the interaction between the West and
non-Western civilizations. Most important was the
transition of non-Western civilizations from colonial targets
of acquisition to being able to join the West “as movers
and shapers of history”.
12. WASHINGTON’S
BACKYARD DOMINANCE (9)
Samuel P. Huntington argues that the world was divided
unto the First, Second, and Third Worlds. This no longer
pertains, because we should now group countries
according to their culture and civilization. This contrasts to
how we grouped them in the past: according to their level
of economic or political system and level of economic
development.
13. FOREIGN DEBT IS A POLITICAL ISSUE (1)
Hans Morgenthau asserts that American foreign aid has
been haphazard at best. Its goals may contradict American
foreign policy goals for there has yet to be constructed a
reliable structure for dispersing aid and gauging the needs
of a recipient. There are no concrete standards for
determining a foreign aid policy. Standards need to be set
into place for policymakers to judge whether particular aid
programs will provide real assistance.
14. FOREIGN DEBT IS A POLITICAL ISSUE (2)
There are six types of foreign aid that all have in
common the transfer of money, goods and
services from one state to another.
1. Humanitarian
2. Subsistence
3. Military
4. Bribery
5. Prestige
6. Economic Development
15. FOREIGN DEBT IS A POLITICAL ISSUE (3)
There is a commonly held belief that the most developed
nations have a humane responsibility to assist
underdeveloped nations so that they too are able to invest
in economic development. Aid directed towards economic
development is one of the most legitimate forms of foreign
aid. One can argue that developed nations need to teach
needy states to fish instead of providing continued
sustenance.
16. FOREIGN DEBT IS A POLITICAL ISSUE (4)
A majority of analysts believe that the debt of the Third
World is too big for them to pay back in full. This means
that the debt is now a political issue for the United States
as well as other rich countries. Rich nation-states have to
come to terms with handling this issue for they will be the
ones who have to solve this predicament. Latin America
and other Third World countries are in big trouble for they
have yet to recover from the economic depression of the
1980s, a crisis of the same magnitude if not worse than the
1930s. This has implications for not only the Third World,
but also affects the United States for its interests are so
vast that they will be inflicted with an economic shockwave
that may destabilize its domestic and foreign policies.
17. FOREIGN DEBT IS A POLITICAL ISSUE (5)
Hans J. Morgenthau argues that some poor states are still
in a medieval stage of cultural development. The lack of a
comparable moral and intellectual revolution as what
helped the West achieve economic development may also
be a factor. This does not mean that these states will not
be able to achieve transformation in the future. One billion
people, or more than one-fifth of the world’s population
lives on less than one dollar a day. Western Europe and
the United States surpassed this standard two hundred
years ago.
18. FOREIGN DEBT IS A POLITICAL ISSUE (6)
There are wide ranges of development objectives that
determine the level of economic progress. We identify
seven:
1. Better Education
2. Improved Health And Nutrition
3. Cleaner Environment
4. Less Poverty
5. Equal Opportunity
6. Increased Individual Freedom
7. Prosperous Cultural Environment
19. AMERICAN USE OF TRADE
AS A WEAPON
Trade has always been a tool for American foreign policy.
This policy pursuit became more so following the attacks of
September 11, 2001. Soon after the attacks, US Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick identifies trade expansion
as a tool to America’s fight against terrorism. Capitalism
depends on con-capitalist structures, namely militarism
and imperialism so that it can continue to expand markets
as well as its scope of subjugation.
20. TRANSITION TO A DEMOCRACY (1)
Many researchers attest that transitions from authoritarian
rule have begun with discord emerging from within military
governments and their relations with bourgeois allies. Most
disagreements have been found to be over economic
problems. The push for liberalization and democratization
would be pushed forward by a reemerging civil society that
may be calling for greater representation due to their
influences with capital development. Constant conflict
developed fissures with gaps developing between those
groups in control. These divisions allowed civil society to
surge into these free areas, enabling coalitions to form
between soft-liners in the state apparatus and those in the
democratic opposition.
21. TRANSITION TO A DEMOCRACY (2)
Decentralization can also lead to the formation of new
positions of power that local elites staff for the benefit of
clientelistic networks. Two conditions for successful
democratization are:
1. Settled Borders
2. Popular Consensus Supporting Inclusive Definition Of
The Nation
22. TRANSITION TO A DEMOCRACY (3)
Evidence has shown that nations having more
authoritarian or controlled economies are more prone to
failure than the American economy. Elites show favor
towards formal democracies for they do not see
subordinates as posing much of a threat as their
organizational power base is weak. It also helps that the
most powerful members of the economic elite support the
capitalist economic model. Subordinates living in formal
democracies are especially in favor of the current
economic model.
23. TRANSITION TO A DEMOCRACY (4)
Theda Skocpol does not equate democratization as
political liberalism or democratic socialism, but rather as an
increase in popular participation in the national life of a
country. This in turn strengthens the core of national stated
ask directed by authoritarian political leaders. A struggle for
power takes place during a revolution where elites
compete for support from groups that had been previously
excluded. This is done by promising material or ideological
incentives. Popular participation is favored as it allows the
forging of organizations that can serve to suppress those
that are somewhat radical. Protracted international warfare
serves as a good rallying call that mobilizes citizen support
in support of a revolutionized regime.
24. TRANSITION TO A DEMOCRACY (5)
Francis Fukuyama identifies two ways that we can account
for recent waves of democratization. He cites the first as
being economic with a strong correlation between
economic development and a stable democracy. The
second is ideology, which constitutes the most important
explanation for the recent wave of democratization. Most
of the countries that experienced democratic upheavals
had taken place in the past few generations from mostly
agricultural to modern industrial societies with high levels
of urbanization, labor mobility, education and other
pertaining factors.
25. DEMOCRACY – CHANGE
FROM WITHIN (1)
Arguing that external environments encourage states to
become democratic cannot adequately explain why the
Soviet Union fell from superpower status into a consortium
of democratic republics. Threat assessments from within
Soviet society had changed whereas the external
environment did not change significantly. The only change
was from within the Soviet Union in terms of its ideology,
which in turn determines threat assessments. Ideology can
serve as a filter of sorts that helps determine whether a
people are dedicated to peaceful coexistence or war with
other peoples. Distributions of power in the international
system serve only as a second consideration, especially
how the international community reacts to a change in the
internal ideology of a state.
26. DEMOCRACY – CHANGE
FROM WITHIN (2)
Environmental factors had no influence over the
dismantling of the Soviet empire with its disseverment of
territory, military power, economic resources and
geographical position. The reason for this occurrence is
that its integrating ideologies of Russian nationalism and
Marxism-Leninism have ceased credibility among its
citizens. National unity is still a necessary precondition for
democracy to take root in the former Soviet Union.
Dankwart Rustow has shown that democracy cannot
develop in regions where a common allegiance of beliefs
does not exist.
27. DEMOCRACY – CHANGE
FROM WITHIN (3)
Francis Fukuyama argues that nationalisms may foster
conflict and instability, but can enter into a period of
maturity when national identities are better defined,
accepted and form a foundation for national unity.
Fukuyama argues that following Word War II that all
modern European nationalism has become “Turkified”
meaning that these nationalisms no longer declare as its
goal to extend its rule over other nations.
28. DEMOCRACY – CHANGE
FROM WITHIN – INDIA (4)
With a long experience as a parliamentary democracy and one
of the world’s fastest growing economies, India’s middle class is
more than 500 million people strong. With professional skills
and employment to match, India’s new middle class is
transforming the country. New industries are springing up to
meet the demands of the Indian middle class, and companies
like Citibank, McDonald’s, and Motorola are increasingly
operating in India. In the 1970s, the Indian economy was widely
criticized for the high level of state intervention and regulation.
While state control of the market kept inflation and budget
deficits low, the “quota-permit-raj” strangled the private sector,
limiting investment and economic growth. The decision to
liberalize the economy in the early 1990s led to a rapid period of
economic growth.
29. DEMOCRACY – CHANGE
FROM WITHIN – INDIA (5)
While a sizable portion of India’s
population continues to live in poverty—
especially in the countryside—a new
middle class has emerged. Multinational
corporations are investing in India,
establishing production facilities and
service sector jobs while simultaneously
producing goods for the new Indian
middle class. But for critics, the
emergence of the Indian middle class has
been accompanied by a breakdown in the
social order, replacing traditional values
with Western consumerism.
30. DEMOCRACY – CHANGE
FROM WITHIN – KENYA (6)
With a gross domestic product per capita of approximately
$1200, an unemployment rate of more than 40 percent,
and almost half the population living below the poverty
line, Kenya is among the poorest countries in Africa.
Extensive government corruption led the World Bank to
suspend aid in 2006, and the International Monetary Fund
has delayed loan distributions to the government pending
successful reform. To what extent are Kenya’s current
problems the result of the country’s colonial experience?
To what extent are they the result of corruption and rent-
seeking behavior on the part of post-colonial leaders?
Such questions are at the heart of the North-South gap.
31. DEMOCRACY – CHANGE
FROM WITHIN – KENYA (7)
Kenya achieved independence from the
British Empire in 1963. From 1963-1992,
Kenya was ruled as a de facto one-party
state. Since 1992, the country has
gradually liberalized and democratized.
Attempting to spur economic
development, the government has
borrowed extensively from the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund, and
public debt currently represents more than
half the country’s gross domestic product.
But corruption remains a major problem
for the government, and the economy has
grown relatively slowly since a nation-wide
drought began in 2000.
32. DEMOCRACY – 5 GENERALIZATIONS
Valerie Bruce states that there are five generalization inherent
in the comparative study of democratization that are pertinent
to new democracies as well as all democracies regardless of
when they had taken form. First, high levels of capital
development helps to maintain democracy. Second, political
leaders are needed to create and maintain democracies both
in good times or bad. Third, parliamentary rather than
presidential systems have been found to be more successful
in maintaining democracies. Fourth, issues pertaining to
national and state power structures have to be determined
early on for democracy to survive. Fifth, all democracies,
regardless of their age or fragility are never certain about the
future, but share a common adherence to procedures of
governance that should not change.
33. ROLES OF INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS (1)
• Most international conflicts are not settled by
military force.
– States generally refrain from taking maximum
short-term advantage of each other.
– States work together by following rules they
develop to govern their interactions.
– Institutions grow up around rules and states
tend to work through these institutions.
34. ROLES OF INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS (2)
• International norms:
– Sovereignty and respect for treaties.
– However, adherence to norms may vary;
different expectations for normal.
– In times of change, when these norms and
habits may not suffice to solve international
dilemmas and resolve conflict, institutions
play a key role.
35. ROLES OF INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS (3)
• International organizations (IOs):
– Include intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
such as the UN, and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) such as the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
– Growth of IOs.
– Global nature of some IOs.
– Regional IOs.
– Global IGOs.
– NGOs – more specialized in function than IGOs.
• Often religious groups are among the largest
NGOs.
36. THE UNITED NATIONS
• State sovereignty creates a real need for such
organizations on a practical level – why?
– because no central world government
performs the function of coordinating actions
of states for mutual benefit.
• State sovereignty also severely limits the power
of the UN and other IOs.
• Reserve power to themselves.
37. THE UN SYSTEM
• UN is a relatively new institution, just over
60 years old.
• Newer is the prominent role it has played
in international security affairs since the
end of the Cold War.
38. PURPOSE OF THE UN
• Members are sovereign states who give consent to the
UN to carry out its mission.
• UN Charter:
– Based on the principles that states are equal under
international law.
– States have full sovereignty over their own affairs.
– States should have full independence and territorial
integrity.
– States should carry out their international obligations.
– Also lays out the structure of the UN and how it
operates.
39. STRUCTURE OF THE UN (1)
• UN General Assembly:
– Representatives of all states; coordinates a variety of
development programs and other autonomous
agencies through the Economic and Social Council.
• UN Security Council:
– Five great powers and 10 rotating member states
make decisions about international peace and
security.
– Dispatches peacekeeping forces to troubled spots.
• UN Secretariat:
– Takes care of the administration of the UN; led by the
secretary-general.
40. STRUCTURE OF THE UN (2)
• World Court:
– Judicial arm of the UN.
• National delegations to the UN, headed by
ambassadors from member states, work and
meet together at the UN headquarters in NYC.
• Universality of membership:
– 192 members in 2007.
• Five great powers each have a veto over
substantive decisions of the Security Council.
• Mechanism for collective security.
41. HISTORY OF THE UN
• Founded in 1945 in San Francisco by 51 states.
• Successor to the League of Nations.
• Tension with the U.S.
• Increases in membership in the 1950s and
1960s:
– Impact on voting patterns.
• Role during the Cold War.
• Role after the Cold War.
• Currently follows the principle of “three pillars”
– Security, economic development, and human
rights.
42. THE SECURITY COUNCIL (1)
• Responsible for maintaining international peace
and security and for restoring peace when it
breaks down.
• Decisions binding on all UN member states.
• Has tremendous power to define the existence
and nature of a security threat, structure the
response to that threat, and enforce its decisions
through mandatory directives to UN members.
– 1,700 resolutions in six decades.
43. THE SECURITY COUNCIL (2)
• Five permanent members:
– U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China.
• Substantive Security Council resolutions
require 9 votes from among the 15
members, but a “no” vote from any
permanent member defeats the resolution.
– veto power.
44. THE SECURITY COUNCIL (3)
• Council’s 10 nonpermanent members rotate onto the
Council for 2-year terms.
– Elected (5 each year) by the General Assembly from
a list prepared by informal regional caucuses.
– Chairperson rotates among the Council members
monthly.
– Meets irregularly.
• Power limited in two major ways:
– Council’s decisions depend entirely on the interests of
its member states.
– Although Security Council resolutions in theory bind
all UN members, member states in practice often try
to evade or soften their effect.
45. THE SECURITY COUNCIL (4)
• Military Staff Committee:
– Formal mechanism for coordinating
multilateral military action in response to
aggression.
• Proposed changes to the Security Council
– Japan and Germany.
• Implications for balance.
46. PEACEKEEPING FORCES (1)
• Not mentioned in the UN Charter:
– Charter requires member states to place
military forces at the disposal of the UN;
anticipated to be used in response to
aggression (under collective security).
– Neutral forces:
• Problematic when one side is
identified as the aggressor (Bosnia).
47. PEACEKEEPING FORCES (2)
• Peacekeeping missions
– Authority for these granted by the Security Council for
a limited but renewable period of time
– Funds must be voted on by the General Assembly
• Recent missions
– Democratic Congo
– Darfur in Sudan
– Bosnia
– Liberia
– Ivory Coast
– Haiti
• Observing and peacekeeping
• Peacemaking
48. PEACEKEEPING FORCES (3)
In 1991, the Somali Government collapsed
and the country fell under control of local
warlords. General Mohamed Farrah Aidid
took control of Mogadishu, the former
capital of Somalia, and maintained power by
controlling UN relief aid. The United Nations
tried unsuccessfully to intervene, and Aidid
maintained control of the region until his
death in 1996. The collapse of the Somali
State, the power wielded by Somali
warlords, and the failure of international
interventions in the country raise questions
about the use of force and the role of the
United Nations in the post-Cold War era.
These concepts are central to the study of
international relations today.
49. THE SECRETARIAT
• The secretary-general of the UN is the closest thing
to a “president of the world” that exists.
– Represents member states.
– Nominated by the Security Council.
• Secretariat is the executive branch of the UN:
– Administers UN policy and programs.
– Develops an international civil service of
diplomats.
• Secretary-general:
– Visible figure who often serves as a mediator in
international conflicts.
– Works to bring together the great-power
consensus.
50. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• 192 voting members meet every year, from late
September to early January in plenary session.
• Convenes special sessions every few years on
topics such as economic cooperation.
• Has the power to accredit national delegations
as members of the UN.
• Main power lies in its control of finances for UN
programs and operations, including
peacekeeping.
• Economic and Social Council:
– Has 54 member states elected by the General
Assembly for 3-year terms.
51. UN PROGRAMS
• Uses more than a dozen major programs to
advance economic development and social stability
in poor states of the global South.
• Each program has a staff, headquarters, and
various operations in the field where it works with
host governments in member states.
– UN Environment Program.
– UNICEF.
– Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees.
– UN Development Program.
– UN Conference on Trade and Development.
52. AUTONOMOUS AGENCIES
• UN General Assembly maintains formal ties with
about 20 autonomous international agencies not
under its control.
– Mostly specialized technical organizations
through which states collectively address
problems such as health care and labor
conditions.
– International Atomic Energy Agency.
– World Health Organization.
– Food and Agriculture Organization.
– International Labor Organization and others.
53. INTERNATIONAL LAW
• Derives not from the actions of a
legislative branch or other central
authority, but from tradition and
agreements signed by states.
• Differs in:
– Difficulty of enforcement, which depends
on reciprocity, collective action, and
international norms.
54. SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
• Declarations of the UN General Assembly are
not laws, and most do not bind members.
• Treaties and other written conventions signed by
states are the most important source.
– Are binding on successor governments
regardless of that government’s
circumstances
• Custom is the second major source of
international law.
• Great principles of law also serve as another
source.
• Legal scholarship is a fourth source.
55. ENFORCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
• International law is much more difficult to enforce.
– Depends heavily on the reciprocity principle.
– States also follow international law because of
the general or long-term costs that could come
from disregarding international law.
– If a state breaks an international law, it may face
a collective response by a group of states, such
as sanctions.
– One great weakness: depends entirely on
national power.
56. THE WORLD COURT (1)
• Rudiments of a general world legal
framework found here.
• Only states can sue or be sued in the
World Court.
• Is a panel of 15 judges elected to 9-year
terms by a majority of both the Security
Council and the General Assembly.
57. THE WORLD COURT (2)
• Meets in The Hague, the Netherlands.
• Great weakness:
– States have not agreed in a comprehensive
way to subject themselves to its jurisdiction or
obey its decisions.
– Only a third have signed the optional clause in
the treaty agreeing to give the Court
jurisdiction in certain cases.
• Main use of the World Court now is to arbitrate
issues of secondary importance between
countries with friendly relations overall.
58. INTERNATIONAL CASES IN
NATIONAL COURT (1)
• A party with a dispute that crosses national borders
gains several advantages by pursuing the matter
through the national courts of one of the relevant
states.
– Judgments are enforceable.
– Individuals and companies can pursue legal
complaints through national courts, whereas in
most areas of international law, states must
themselves bring suits on behalf of their citizens.
– There is often a choice of more than one state
within which a case could legally be heard; one can
pick the legal system most favorable to one’s case.
59. INTERNATIONAL CASES IN
NATIONAL COURT (2)
• U.S. is a favorite jurisdiction within which
to bring cases for two reasons:
– U.S. juries have a reputation for
awarding bigger settlements.
– Because many people and governments
do business in the U.S., it is often
possible to collect damages awarded by
a U.S. Court.
• Extradition.
• Immigration law.
60. LAW AND SOVEREIGNTY:
LAWS OF DIPLOMACY (1)
• Bedrock of international law is respect for
the rights of diplomats.
• Diplomatic recognition:
– Credentials.
• Diplomats have the right to occupy an
embassy in the host country as though it
were their own state’s territory.
• Diplomatic immunity:
– Espionage.
61. LAW AND SOVEREIGNTY:
LAWS OF DIPLOMACY (2)
• Diplomatic pouches.
• Interests section.
– When two countries lack diplomatic relations,
they often do business through a third country
willing to represent a country’s interests
formally through its own embassy.
• Formal complaints.
• Terrorism – in this context the law of diplomacy
is repeatedly violated.
– Tempting targets for terrorists.
62. JUST-WAR DOCTRINE
• International law distinguishes just wars (wars that are
legal) from wars of aggression (which are illegal).
• Today, legality of war is defined by the UN Charter, which
outlaws aggression but allows “international police
actions.”
– Strong international norm.
– States have a right to respond to aggression.
• This is the only allowable use of military force
according to just-war doctrine.
• Just-war approach explicitly rules out war as an
instrument to change another state’s government or
policies, or ethnic and religious conflicts.
63. HUMAN RIGHTS:
INDIVIDUALS VERSUS SOVEREIGNTY (1)
• The idea of human rights flies in the face
of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
• Consensus on the most important human
rights also lacking.
– Rights are universal versus relativism.
64. HUMAN RIGHTS:
INDIVIDUALS VERSUS SOVEREIGNTY (2)
• Concept of human rights comes from at
least three sources:
– Religion.
– Political and legal philosophy.
– Theory of natural law and natural rights
(political revolutions brought theory to
practice).
65. HUMAN RIGHTS:
INDIVIDUALS VERSUS SOVEREIGNTY (3)
• No globally agreed-upon definitions of the
essential human rights exist.
• Often divided into two broad categories:
– civil-political “negative rights” – free speech,
freedom of religion, equal protection under the
law, freedom from arbitrary imprisonment.
– economic-social “positive rights” – rights to
good living conditions, food, health care,
social security, and education.
66. HUMAN-RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS (1)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
– Does not have the force of international law.
– Does set forth international norms.
– Since its adoption, the UN has opened 7 treaties for
state signature to further define protections of human
rights.
• Two important treaties: International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights.
• Convention Against Torture (CAT), 1987.
67. HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS (2)
• Convention on Rights of the Child
(CRC),1990:
– Every country except Somalia and the
U.S. has approved it.
• Role of IOs in protecting human rights.
• Today, NGOs play a key role in efforts to
win basic political rights in authoritarian
countries.
– Amnesty International.
68. WAR CRIMES (1)
• Large-scale abuses of human rights often
occur during war.
• International law is especially difficult to
enforce during war.
– But extensive norms of legal conduct in
war, as well as international treaties, are
widely followed.
– After war, losers can be punished for
violations of the laws of war.
69. WAR CRIMES (2)
• Crimes against humanity:
– Genocide.
– International Criminal Court (ICC).
• Universal jurisdiction.
– International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC).
• Lack of declaration of wars.
70. EVOLUTION OF WORLD ORDER
• The most powerful states, especially hegemons, have
great influence on the rules and values that have
become embedded over time in a body of international
law.
– Free passage of the seas and the role of the powerful
Dutch in 1600s.
– 20th century – powerful United States of America:
• World too large for any single state to police
effectively.
• World goes along but tries to influence the rules
themselves.
• New international norms:
– unsettled