State are sovereign, which means that they have the right to make all the laws within the territories that they govern
State sovereignty is in the second article of the UN charter
The United Nations:
The United Nations has:
promoted the idea that everyone has human rights regardless of where they live
led numerous peacekeeping operations
served as the hub of a massive body of international law
enabled dialogue to continue between hostile states
comissioned research and reports
promoted human rights and arms control
The security council allows for world order issue to be resolved (problems with big 5’s power of veto)
International instruments
Treaties and customary law
Treaties can be bilateral or multilateral
Customary law included the prinicple and rules of international law that existed before the UN and are not in writing
Courts and tribunals:
International court of justice:
Is a UN body - primary judicial organ
Only for nation states
Goverened by UN charter article 14 and decisions can be enforced by the Security Council
Limited in effectiveness as on technicalities you don’t really have to go or listen to the judgement
Ad Hoc tribunals:
Only temporary and deal with one situation
Set up by the security council to deal with their one conflict
Two main tribunals throughout history International Crimminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia and International Crimminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Have been found to be quite effective
International Criminal Court:
Aim to bring justice to people who have committed international crimes
Another arm of the UN goverened by the Rome Statute
Has issues (Only convicted 2 people despite having 36 on their watch list)
Takes a long time, is expensive and is not really effective
Intergovernmental organisations:
In the UN charter section 5L encourages regional alliances
Examples include:
The EU
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Non-government organisations:
Non-government organisations (NGOs) also play a crucial role in world order, and there are some 10 million NGOs today that campaign globally for humanitarian ideals.
NGOs are limited by their power
Are a way for people to be involved without having any governmental power
International Crisis group
Australia’s federal government:
Domestic law:
Section 51 Part 29 of the Australian Constitution allows external affairs power which allows the government to sign and ratify international treaties
International treaties are ratified into domestic law
Australia has signed over 900 treaties and multilateral/bilateral agreements
World governance:
Part of British empire
Memeber of the UN
Peacekeeping operations:
Around 65,000 Aussies have been in 50 operations in aabout 25 conflicts
East Timor conflict - most involved
Media:
Plays a large role in how the public hears about world order issues
Issue in unbalanced reporting on different issues and conflicts
Example of power seen when the media exposed the treatment of American POWs
Political negotiation, persuasion and the use of force:
Political negotiation:
Where governments and diplomats work together to resolve conflucts peacefully through discussion
Can occur on a bilateral or multilateral level
Problem being that negotiation is non-binding and not mandatory and there aren’t really consequences
Persuasion:
Varying levels (could be a call or could be sanctions)
Doesn’t have to be used just by governments (frequently used by NGOs to ‘out’ countries)
Eg. 2008 ‘genocide’ olympics
Use of force:
Strong belief in international community that force is the last resort
Enshrined in UN charter Article 2 Part 4 however Article 51 says force can be used in self- defence, Article 42 says that the Security Council controls force
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