After the Second World War, Europe was demolished. Over 60 million people were killed, industry was destroyed, and above all the war induced deep moral degradation. While the world struggled to recover from the desolation of the war, a new global organization, the United Nations, was established, its main purpose was and still is to ensure peace and security within the international community and chiefly to avoid a third world war.
Over the past decades, the United Nations and its humanitarian interventions have been an interesting and important theme, hence more literature is being written on this topic. However the effectiveness of the Security Council at executing international peace through humanitarian interventions seems to be a relatively neglected area, therefore this field is the focus of my dissertation. The importance of the United Nations on the global stage is indeed a popular topic which has undergone much research. Nevertheless, the mismatch of attitudes between the great powers within the Security Council concerning different humanitarian interventions but with similar origins still has not been sufficiently explored. In this dissertation, I intend to fill a gap in this area of research, which is not only a globally important issue, but also a topic that has been under-researched.
The aim of this dissertation is to shed light on challenges that the United Nations faces, with an emphasis on the ethics of humanitarian intervention. In order to find an appropriate answer to this question, I will examine two case studies, which have been chosen as examples of two different UN reactions to a crisis. The first case study is NATO’s military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war in 1999, the second is a non-combat military operation in Syria. While considering these two case studies, it is also crucial to constantly keep in mind the motives and ideas that lead to the development of the UN and what the UN is supposed to represent. In order to understand this, I will first provide a brief history of the UN, and detail how it is structured, and most notably, the Charter of the UN as a source of right. Possible limitations of this project could be an inability to come to the right conclusions and find a universal solution to these kinds of crises.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Development, Structure, Goals and Principles of the United Nations
2.1 Historical background
2.2 The Fundamental Political Problems of the UN
2.3 An Overview of the Structure of the United Nations
2.4 Goals and Peacekeeping Principles of the UN
2.4.1 Main goals of the UN
2.4.2 Peacekeeping Principles of the UN
2.4.3 Article 2 of the Charter of the UN
3. Case Study I - NATO’s military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war in 1999
3.1 A Brief history of NATO’s military operation in the Kosovo war
3.1.1 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
3.1.2 Events Arranged in Chronological Order
3.2. Consequences of NATO’s War on Yugoslavia
4. Case study II – a non-combat military operation in Syria
4.1 A Brief History of the Syrian crisis I
4.1.1 The Arab Spring
4.2 A Brief history of the Syrian crisis II
4.3 Consequences of the Syrian civil war
5. Discussion of two case studies
5.1 The Same Situations with Differing reactions
5.2 Violation of international law
5.3 Great powers within the Security Council
Conclusion
Recommendation
References
Research Objectives and Themes
This dissertation aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the United Nations Security Council in maintaining international peace and security by examining how geopolitical interests influence responses to humanitarian crises.
- The structural limitations and decision-making processes of the UN Security Council.
- Comparative analysis of the NATO intervention in Kosovo and the non-intervention in Syria.
- The impact of veto rights held by permanent members of the Security Council.
- The ethical dilemmas and tensions between state sovereignty and humanitarian intervention.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 A Brief history of NATO’s military operation in the Kosovo war
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was created on 27 April 1992, after the breakdown of the Social Republic of Yugoslavia, as a common country between the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro. NATO’s military operation against Yugoslavia was conducted between 24th March and 10th June 1999. Originally it was planned to last only several days, and would involve a limited number of military targets, but it in fact lasted ceaselessly for 78 days. The official code name for the operation was Operation Allied Force, in the USA it is known as Operation Nobel Anvil, and in Serbia it is known by the name “Milosrdni andjeo” “Merciful Angel” (in English) or NATO aggression. It was NATO’s second air campaign in the region of former Yugoslavia; the first operation was in 1995 known as Operation Deliberate Force, located in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the purpose of eroding the military capability of the Bosnian Serb Army.
Kosovo was a southern region of the state of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, today known as Serbia. Citizens of Kosovo attempted for years to claim their independence from the state of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but their independence was constantly denied. Therefore NATO pronounced that the conflict between the Albanians and the Serbs in Kosovo was becoming unmanageable. In order to better understand the situation in Kosovo before and after the NATO interventions, it’s essential to outline the proportion of Albanians and Serbs in that region.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents the background of the post-WWII international order and establishes the research focus on the effectiveness of UN humanitarian interventions.
2. The Development, Structure, Goals and Principles of the United Nations: Details the historical origins, organizational structure, and the fundamental goals of the UN, including the role of the Security Council and voting procedures.
3. Case Study I - NATO’s military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war in 1999: Analyzes the background, timeline, and consequences of the NATO intervention in the Kosovo conflict.
4. Case study II – a non-combat military operation in Syria: Explores the Syrian crisis, its roots in the Arab Spring, and the subsequent paralysis of the Security Council due to conflicting interests among major powers.
5. Discussion of two case studies: Compares the two crises to highlight how the Security Council’s response varies based on geopolitical interests, leading to violations of international law.
Keywords
United Nations, Security Council, Humanitarian Intervention, Kosovo War, Syrian Civil War, Veto Power, International Law, NATO, Sovereignty, Great Power Politics, Peacekeeping, Conflict Resolution, Geopolitics, Ethics of Intervention, Military Operation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this dissertation?
This work examines the effectiveness of the United Nations Security Council in executing international peace, specifically addressing the mismatch between UN principles and the actual political actions taken by great powers.
What are the primary themes discussed?
The core themes include the structure and goals of the UN, the role of permanent Security Council members, the ethics of humanitarian intervention, and how political interests dictate global crisis management.
What is the main research question?
The research seeks to answer: "How effective is the United Nations Security Council at executing international peace?"
Which methodology is employed?
The author uses a comparative case study approach, analyzing two distinct geopolitical crises—the 1999 Kosovo war and the Syrian civil war—to demonstrate the inconsistency of international responses.
What is covered in the main body?
The main body reviews the UN's historical and institutional framework, followed by detailed case study analyses of the interventions (or lack thereof) in Yugoslavia and Syria, concluding with a comparative discussion.
What keywords characterize the study?
Key terms include United Nations, Security Council, humanitarian intervention, sovereignty, international law, and great power politics.
How does the author characterize the role of the "Big Five" members in the Security Council?
The author argues that the permanent members often use their veto power to advance national interests rather than ensuring global peace, which frequently paralyzes the UN during critical humanitarian crises.
What is the primary difference in the outcomes of the two studied cases?
In the Kosovo case, NATO proceeded with military action despite a lack of formal UN authorization. In contrast, during the Syrian crisis, similar geopolitical deadlocks led to a lack of intervention, highlighting inconsistent standards.
- Quote paper
- Bernarda Ivankovic (Author), 2015, The Challenge of Great Power Politics within the United Nations, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/299351
