POLI 244 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: United Nations Human Rights Council, Soft Law, Collective Identity
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
International institutions mitigate cooperation problems
Transparency - information, intentions
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Transaction costs - forum for negotiation, # of players
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The 3 Rs:
Reciprocity - delegation
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Retaliation - collective security
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Reputation - publicizing good/bad reputation
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International institutions make cooperation less necessary
Normative constraints on self-interested behaviour
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Collective identity formation
My interests = our interests
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International law: a body of rules that creates rights and obligations
for states (and other actors)
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International law as a consent based system of law
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Sources of international law
Treaties - explicit consent
Negotiation - signature - ratification
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International customs - inferred consent
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This level of legalization of international rules
Obligation + precision + delegation
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Soft law - hard law
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International organizations are formal organizations and there are
two ways they are classified
IGOs (intergovernmental organizations) and are created by
states
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NGOs (nongovernmental organizations)
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Global (UN, world bank)
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Regional organizations (western hemisphere - the Americas)
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International governmental organizations
Economic IGOs (world bank, WTO, IMF)
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Human rights IGOs (UN Human Rights Council)
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Security IGOs (League of Nations, NATO, UN)
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United Nations Organization
Created in 1945 (The UN Charter - established the
organization)
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Primary purpose was to maintain international peace and
security
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From the UN charter: General prohibition on the use of force;
there are two exceptions
Art. 2(4) - general ban on the use of force
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Art. 51 - right to use force in self defense
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Art. 42 - right to use force under authorization of the UN
security council
Right to use military force if you are legitimately
under attack (exception)
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Force in question is mandated by the security
council (exception)
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Six primary organs
Global organization with all states in the world being a
part of the organization
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Focus is on the maintenance of international peace and
security, but any issue can be part of the agenda
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Complex structure to the organization
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UN general assembly
The plenary organ of the UN (includes each and every member
of the organization)
From 51 members in 1945, to 193 members today
The cases of Taiwan and the European Union □
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Primary forum for the discussion of global issues
Meets once a year in September in NYC
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Has a very broad agenda, virtually any issue could be
brought to the agenda
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Issues non-binding resolutions (sovereign equality)
No legal obligations, but resolutions can be very
important because when a resolution is passed by the
general assembly with broad support from the
members, that carries a lot of political weight
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This can later on be taken into account in an
international court that an international custom exists
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Each sovereign state has one vote, no state carries more
political power than others and therefore the votes
count the same in the final count
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Codification and development of international law
UN convention against torture, it was the int'l law
committee that worked on the draft
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Need states to ratify documents and turn them into laws
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UN Security Council
Political organ made up of 15 members
5 permanent members (USA, Russia, France, China, UK)
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10 others are non-permanent members (2 year term
and they are then replaced by different members)
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Regional representation in the security council
(members are allocated to different regions)
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Primary purpose is to maintain international peace and
security
Does not have a broad agenda, it focuses on int'l
security issues
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Reducing the number of players involved allows for
quick decisions to be made
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Peacekeeping missions
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Peace-enforcement (Art. 42) - authorization of military
members
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Authorizes uses of force by passing a resolution and that
is legally binding
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Issues legally binding resolutions
Great power unaminity (permanent members veto)
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There is still one country, one vote but there is
institutional priviledges given to great powers such as a
permanent seat
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International norms and state behaviour
Norms: standards of behaviour for actors with a given identity
in a given social context. They attack meaning to certain
behaviours and define what actions are right or appropriate
under particular circumstances.
This has to do with the social context and the social role
that the actor is playing in the context
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Norms affect behaviour
Logic of consequence (associated with neoliberalism or
realism)
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Rational explanation/choice/action
Actor has an interests and the consequences that
the actor prefers allows the actor to select the
best choice of action
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Logic of appropriateness (associated with structuralism)
Actor is situated and the actor chooses the action
that is the most appropriate
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Norms structure the assessment of appropriateness and say
what actions are appropriate or not for certain actors
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What drives state behaviour?
Both appropriateness and expected utility matter
Utilitatarian basis
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Normative basis
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Independent drives
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More established a given norm is, the more likely it is for the
actor to ignore it
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Lecture 13
Monday, October 16, 2017
2:39 PM
Document Summary
Transaction costs - forum for negotiation, # of players. International law: a body of rules that creates rights and obligations for states (and other actors) International law as a consent based system of law. International organizations are formal organizations and there are two ways they are classified. Igos (intergovernmental organizations) and are created by states. Created in 1945 (the un charter - established the organization) Primary purpose was to maintain international peace and security. From the un charter: general prohibition on the use of force; there are two exceptions. 2(4) - general ban on the use of force. 51 - right to use force in self defense. 42 - right to use force under authorization of the un security council. Right to use military force if you are legitimately under attack (exception) Force in question is mandated by the security council (exception) Global organization with all states in the world being a part of the organization.
