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asylum, Balance of Power, challenges, collective syste, conflict, disarmament, expanded, nations, Nuclear, Resolution, security, threats, un, usa, Vacuum
Challenges To The UN Collective Security System:
The changing nature of security issues and threats has led to the multiplicity of means and ways of tackling them. This has had causal effects on the level of interactions among states bringing them together to face a mutual enemy and thus the collective security regime clearly evidenced in the workings of the United Nations System which has also been the foundation in the development of International legal regime.
International security as the antidote of strategic balance of power has been on the rise simultaneously with national security of states, where the more states get together in the aim of protecting themselves the more the individual states seek to further their own security-this undermines the collective security approach. This works contrary to the notion of collective security as it creates a more competitive scenario, though in legal and theoretical terms it perceives to have a universal approach, in practice it is rarely the case.
Focus on the protection of individuals within the state has been on the rise as captured by United Nations Development Programme in its 1994 Human Development Report[1] and hence the ‘responsibility to protect’ by all for all. Focus on new security frontiers has led to more interactions in legal regimes on for instance how to secure the cyber space, Antarctica, the arctic, outer space and various maritime zones. New ideas brought forth by the Copenhagen school have also resulted to focus on the security of issues rather than actors hence development of regimes such as environmental regime, economic regimes, and human security regimes inter alia.
Dynamics in national security brought in by terrorism has undermined the protection of human rights by states as each state preserves the right to determine what terrorism is and what it is not. The United Nation Security Council Resolution 1373[2] declares that terrorism is contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations, leaving the definition of terrorism upon the state and the counter-terrorism measures of the state upon its volition including tighter border control against asylum seekers as well as immigrants. The widening range of security concerns have consequences on the collective system approach: it poses challenges to the jurisdictional limits of international institutions such as the Security Council; requires an extensive array of mechanisms to respond to the different threats than the existing collective security threats.
Aspects such as the role of private individuals in securitization, the accommodation of individuals and non-state actors in international law continue to prove challenging as a result of the existing collective security regime by states. A more positive instance is the principle of proportionality in armed conflict under international humanitarian law where legitimate military goals cannot be attained by civilian casualties. Deployment of peacekeeping forces as the mandate of the Security Council has caused ethical, operational and normative dilemmas[3].
With regard to International Institutions, their methodologies of operation and non-democratic decision making processes question their legitimacy. Regardless, threats to the regime security are rather structural than violent, for instance the Security Council’s role in providing solutions to non-traditional security concerns. On the contrary there is a concern of whether military approach to solve non-military and non-traditional threats is the soundest way to go, and therefore a continuous dilemma. The collective security regime alternative is unilateral security measure, of the two, collective security regime attempts to maintain international peace and security prove more fail-safe. Unilateralism is bound to be a serious threat to the international legal regime and more so human security.
The best approach in dealing with human security issues at a global level lies with the concept of Cooperative security which is based on the idea of similar institutions and norms unlike the common security which is based on the idea of similar interests. The idea propagates for: political dialogue despite rivalry and tensions to for the realization of a state’s security and facilitating integration into an institutional dialogue. Another approach is comprehensive security concept which encourages assorted approaches to addressing human security threats in a comprehensive way focusing on the process rather than the substance. A threat to the ideals of Human security is the fact that it is perceived to be a political and economic tool used by the ‘donor states’ to promote their agendas in third world countries.
Further deepening and widening of human security concerns and approaches should be expected, therefore greater levels of engagements should be harnessed with other disciplines as well.
[1] UN Development Programme, “Human Development Report 1994”, New York: United Nations 1994, p22.
[2] SC Res 1373 of 28th September 2001
[3] H. Nasu, “Operationalizing the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ and conflict prevention: Dilemmas of Civilian Protection in Armed Conflict”, Journal of Conflict & Security Law 2009-14, pp209-241
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Disclaimer: This Article does not Represent the Opinions of the Organization but the author.