This is the first major exploration of the United Nations Security Council's part in addressing the problem of war, both civil and international, since 1945. Both during and after the Cold War the Council has acted in a limited and selective manner, and its work has sometimes resulted in failure. It has not been - and was never equipped to be - the centre of a comprehensive system of collective security. However, it remains the body charged with primary responsibility for international peace and security. It offers unique opportunities for international consultation and military collaboration, and for developing legal and normative frameworks. It has played a part in the reduction in the incidence of international war in the period since 1945.
This study examines the extent to which the work of the UN Security Council, as it has evolved, has or has not replaced older systems of power politics and practices regarding the use of force. Its starting point is the failure to implement the UN Charter scheme of having combat forces under direct UN command. Instead, the Council has advanced the use of international peacekeeping forces; it has authorized coalitions of states to take military action; and it has developed some unanticipated roles such as the establishment of post-conflict transitional administrations, international criminal tribunals, and anti-terrorism committees.
The book, bringing together distinguished scholars and practitioners, draws on the methods of the lawyer, the historian, the student of international relations, and the practitioner. It begins with an introductory overview of the Council's evolving roles and responsibilities. It then discusses specific thematic issues, and through a wide range of case studies examines the scope and limitations of the Council's involvement in war. It offers frank accounts of how belligerents viewed the UN, and how the Council acted and sometimes failed to act. The appendices provide comprehensive information - much of it not previously brought together in this form - of the extraordinary range of the Council's activities.
This book is a project of the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War.
1. Introduction ; PART I: THE FRAMEWORK ; 2. A Council for All Seasons: The Creation of the Security Council and Its Relevance Today ; 3. The Charter Limitations on the Use of Force: Theory and Practice ; 4. Proposals for UN Standing Forces: A Critical History ; PART II: THE ROLES OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL ; 5. The Great Powers and the Security Council ; 6. The Security Council, the General Assembly, and War: The Uniting for Peace Resolution ; 7. The Security Council and Peacekeeping ; 8. The Sanctions Era: Themes and Trends in UN Security Council Sanctions since 1990 ; 9. The Authorization by the Security Council of Regional Arrangements to Use Force: The Case of NATO ; 10. The Security Council in the Post-Cold War World ; PART III: CASE STUDIES ; 11. The United Nations, the Security Council, and the Korean War ; 12. The Suez Crisis and the British Dilemma at the United Nations ; 13. The Security Council and the Arab-Israeli Wars: Responsibility without Power ; 14. The Security Council and the India-Pakistan Wars ; 15. The Security Council and the Question of East Timor' ; 16. The Security Council and the Iran-Iraq War ; 17. The Security Council and the 1991 and 2003 Iraq Wars ; 18. The Security Council and the Wars in the former Yugoslavia ; 19. The Security Council and the Bosnia Conflict: A Practitioner's View ; 20. The Security Council and Afghanistan ; 21. The Security Council and Three Wars in West Africa ; 22. The Security Council in the Wings: Exploring the Non-Involvement of the Security Council in Wars ; PART IV: THE SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF WAR ; 23. The Different Functions of the Security Council with Respect to Humanitarian Law ; 24. The Security Council and Interventions with Humanitarian Purposes ; 25. The Security Council and International Administration of War-Torn and Contested Territories ; 26. The Security Council and International Law on Military Occupations ; 27. The Security Council and Terrorism ; 28. The Security Council and the Use of Private Force ; Appendices ; 1. UN Peacekeeping Operations, 1945 - 2006 ; 2. UN Forces, Missions, and Institutions not Classified as Peacekeeping Operations, 1945 - 2006 ; 3. UN-Authorized Military Operations, 1945 - 2006 ; 4. UN-Authorized Sanctions, 1945 - 2006 ; 5. Vetoed Security Council Resolutions, 1945 - 2006 ; 6. Uses of the Uniting for Peace Resolution, 1950 - 2006 ; 7. List of Armed Conflicts and Crises, 1945 - 2006
