Global Peace

The Treaty of Westphalia made the sovereignty of nation-states a basic principle. The European Harmony, which emerged with the Vienna Congress, created the basis for international cooperation. The idea of national unification was proposed by Kant to provide perpetual peace. After World War I, President Wilson announced demanded the establishment of the League of Nations that would protect the integrity and political independence of countries. Although the League of Nations solved some problems, it could not prevent World War II. The fact that the USSR and the USA were not members of this union showed that the union was not universal. The decisions of the League of Nations were not binding. It lacked mechanisms to regulate military and economic affairs. The United Nations replaced the League of Nations after World War II. It was created by states for states. The Great Depression and nationalism have been seen as one of the reasons the World War II. Unlike the League of Nations, the United Nations deals with not only peace and security but also economic and social problems. The United Nations has four main aims; maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relationships between nations, cooperating in solving international problems and promoting human rights, and being a center for harmonizing actions of nations. 

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is responsible for maintaining international peace and security. Unlike the League of Nations, the UNSC recognizes privilege power. The UNSC's decisions are binding and must be passed by 2/3 of the five members must support. According to articles 2 (4) and 2 (3) of the UNSC Chapter 6, countries should resolve disputes peacefully in a way that does not endanger international peace. If there is conflict, it tries to establish a ceasefire and sends a peacekeeping mission. After analyzing within the framework of the UNSC 39 articles, article 41 (economic, political sanctions) or 42 (military actions) is applied. For example, UNSC Resolution 678 aims to remove Iraq from Kuwait. When necessary, the UNSC makes military operations, but it does not have an army. Therefore, it demands this from members. No such thing was requested except for the Korean and the Gulf Wars. 

Global politics shape the performance of the United Nations in maintaining peace and security. It is founded on the principle of sovereign equality. The use and threat of force are prohibited by Article 2/4 and intervention in the internal affairs of states by Article 2/7. The realist argument the balance of power was at the center of the Cold War. Peacekeeping operations were generally carried out. Korean War was peace enforcement. The structure of peace operations changed after the Cold War. Classic peacekeeping is the establishment of force under the United Nations' commands. This force uses power just for self-defense, is created with the consent of the host state, and does not include great powers. After that, regional crises shaped by ethnic cleansing and civil wars emerged in regions of the Soviet influence the distribution of power and the pursuit of power in the new international system brought reforms to the agenda of the United Nations. Failed states and lack of domestic justice are risks to international order. Global peace is beyond situations where countries do not fight. Articles 1, 13, 55, and 56 strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and make them one of the fundamental aims of the United Nations. According to global peace, no one should be afraid of state and police forces, and people should live in peace everywhere. “Freedom from fear” and “freedom from want” are highlighted as fundamental human rights. In the report prepared by Boutros-Gali, the United Nations' peacekeeping function, the United Nations’ responsibility for peacebuilding as well as maintaining peace was emphasized. Preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peace enforcement, peacekeeping, and post-conflict peacebuilding are important.

According to the Genocide Convention genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crime against humanity are international crimes. According to the Responsibility to Protect report, the state has to protect people from these and the principle of non-intervention is replaced by responsibility as a result of the harm to the people due to the state's failure. It does not modify new exceptions to the prohibition on the use of power 2(4). In 2005, Responsible to Protect was unanimously approved. There was no legal justification of invasion Iraq. America tried to legitimize it by using Responsible to Protect. In Kosova's case, concluded that the NATO operation was illegal but legitimate.

Eventually, I think idealized peace is a utopia, but people can reach the idea of peace even if it is unperfect. The United Nations is one of the key factors to maintain world order but reforms need to be made. It is difficult to say that it makes peace prevail around the world, but it is true that it pioneers human rights and fundamental rights and freedoms. There has been no global war since 1945 but there are civil wars, violence, financial warfare, inequalities and climate crisis, and pandemic. It provides universal membership for countries but this membership would never equal five privileged countries. It has some achievements such as the Korean and the Gulf war but the inability of the organization to prevent the massacres in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia (because of the Russian veto). Permanent peace could not be achieved in Iraq and Afghanistan and terrorism increased with ethnic and sectarian conflicts and the United Nations watched military interventions that it did not support. After the UNSC decision to establish a no-fly zone in Libya, military intervention was carried out, whose responsibility was transferred to NATO. Gaddafi was removed from administration and the region was dragged into civil war. It was alleged that Assad used chemical weapons in 2011 Syria, but China and Russia vetoed the decision to intervene. The Syrian crisis is the most vivid example of the failure of the international community.