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Examining the efficacy of U.N. peace efforts, Dr. Ramesh Thakur compares limited peacekeeping through U.N. authority with more coercive means such as the Multinational Force (MNF) in Lebanon. He finds that the role of the U.S.-led MNF coalition cannot be justified in terms of great-power responsibility for ensuring a stable international order, since the coalition has attempted to substitute military power for authoritative peacekeeping. When MNF legitimacy was questioned and authority was challenged, the MNF's use of force in response to those challenges switched the coalition's role from third-party peacekeeper to factional participant. As a result, every successive attempt to strengthen the MNF mandate has further subordinated the concept of neutral international peacekeeping to calculated support of national interests. If reasoned attempts to keep the peace are not to collapse into exercises in national self-interest, then peacekeeping responsibilities must remain with the U.N., supported by the great powers: Only the U.N. can provide an authoritative exposition of values within the context of international society and bestow international legitimacy upon peacekeeping activities; only the great powers can back the U.N. with requisite force.

This book presents papers on different perspectives in tackling the economic, racial and other injustices which generate conflict. The papers infer that the nuclear threat provides the most urgent manifestation of the inadequacy of war as a means of resolving differences between nations.

Ending humanitarian atrocities has become as important for the United Nations as preventing interstate war. This book examines the transformation of UN operations, analysing its changing role and structure. Ramesh Thakur asks why, when and how force may be used, and argues that the growing gulf between legality and legitimacy is evidence of an eroded sense of international community. He considers the tension between the United States, with its capacity to use force and project power, and the United Nations, as the centre of the international law enforcement system. He asserts the central importance of the rule of law and a rules-based order focused on the United Nations as the foundation of a civilised system of international relations. This book will be of interest to students of the United Nations and international organisations in politics, law and international relations departments, as well as policymakers in governmental and non-governmental international organisations

Professor Ramesh Thakur, former Senior Vice Rector of the United Nations University and UN Assistant Secretary-General, is sometimes described as one of the intellectual godfathers of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Based in our common humanity, R2P is an acceptance of a duty of care by those living in safety towards those trapped in zones of danger. It aims to convert a shocked international conscience into timely and decisive collective action to rescue vulnerable communities so that groups condemned to die in fear can live in hope instead. For more than a decade, Thakur has been deeply engaged with the international discourse on R2P as an influential member of the international commission that came up with that innovative principle. This book brings together his opinion articles from several newspapers in Australia, Canada, India and Japan, and The International Herald Tribune. It begins with Kosovo in 1999 and ends with Libya in 2011, with stops at way-stations in Iraq, Darfur, Lebanon, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Egypt. Threats to human security do not necessarily take cataclysmic forms such as war or natural disaster. Nor does human insecurity exist solely within a suspended living environment like refugee camps. Often threats to human security are as subtle as a slow-rising tide, whose calamitous nature remains unknown till it breaks as a monstrous flood. The essays in this volume call attention to these less obvious threats to human security and how people and communities face them. Woven from the first-hand observations of life at various sites in East Asia, the narratives in these essays illuminate how uncanny the threats to human security can be.

One of the most important developments in world politics in the last decade has been the spread of the idea that state sovereignty comes with responsibilities as well as privileges, and that there exists a global responsibility to protect people threatened by mass atrocities. The principle of the Responsibility to Protect is an acknowledgment by all who live in zones of safety of a duty of care towards those in zones of danger. Thakur and Maley argue that this principle has not been discussed sufficiently in the context of international and political theory, in particular the nature and foundations of political and international order and the strength and legitimacy of the state. The book brings together a range of authors to discuss the different ways in which the Responsibility to Protect can be theorised, using case studies to locate the idea within wider traditions of moral responsibilities in international relations

Explores the evolution of UN efforts at peace-keeping, particularly since the early 1990s. It combines academic analysis, field experience and reflection with proposals for more effective peace operations designed and deployed by the UN in partnership with regional, subregional and local actors

In the 21st century, the world is faced with threats of global scale that cannot be confronted without collective action. Although global government as such does not exist, formal and informal institutions, practices, and initiatives -- together forming "global governance"--Bring a greater measure of predictability, stability, and order to trans-border issues than might be expected. Yet, there are significant gaps between many current global problems and available solutions. Thomas G. Weiss and Ramesh T

"The need for institutional strengthening is well recognised, but what needs to be looked into in greater detail is the differing mix of institutions that may play a role. This book explores the institutions that support the effectiveness of the rule of law domestically and focus on the extent to which similar institutions already exist at the international level and, to where they exist, analyse the possibility of their further development or supplementation. The authors speculate on potential future institutional histories of how the international rule of law might be developed - thereby suggesting potential strategies for developing and strengthening the international rule of law.Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, combining the fields of international relations, politics and law, this book covers a broad institutions including: UN Security Council, International Court of Justice, Human Rights machinery, Regional Human Rights, UN courts, International Criminal Court, ad hoc/hybrid courts/tribunals, World Trade Organization, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, academic organisations, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, other institutions and the media.It will be of strong interest to students and scholars of international relations, international organisations, global governance, international law, migration law, international peace and security law, applied ethics, political economy, political science, and sociology"--

The principles, values and manifestations of multilateralism, including the United Nations, are under sustained scrutiny and assault. Their performance and effectiveness are questioned, as are their decision-making procedures and their representation according to 21st century standards of accountability and democracy. All this has a corrosive effect on their legitimacy. This publication explores the performance and future of multilateral approaches and institutions with reference to major global challenges such as international security, terrorism, HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, economic justice, human rights and humanitarian assistance.--Publisher's description

The stated reason for invading Iraq was its alleged clandestine pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in defiance of UN resolutions. Even though the allegation was proven false, the international community remains preoccupied with the threat of the proliferation and use of such terrible weapons. This has three interlinked components: non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament. Some countries, from within the shelter of the NPT, could either develop a fully-fledged weapons capability, covertly and illegally, or else acquire all the materials and expertise needed for a weapons programme an