Table of Contents
Introduction
The conditions of human relationships enable them to experience the occurrences of positive peace. There can be unlearning and deconstruction of human competence when peaceful people are not experiencing peace in their respective countries worldwide. The historical roots resistance of heavily organized movements from both the Western and Eastern societies who oppose religious fundamentalism has all along threatened the peace and security of the global world. These are what led to the emergence of international terrorism, which has become the major threat to the global peace and security. Global terrorism also threatens the collective interest of well-being concerning materials wealth, fundamental interest in market forces, and spiritual growth (Chaliand, & Blin, 2007, p.8). Therefore, with the increasing threat posed by terrorists globally, there was a formation of a collective security system that had powers it acquired from the community of States or nations forming it with the aim of providing security. The notion about maintenance of peace and security became a major concern worldwide after the terror attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001 that posed a new security threat (Geeraerts, Pauwels, & Remacle, 2006, p. 11). The United Nations (UN) started championship negotiations for countering terrorism, which involved the use of weapons of mass destructions such as nuclear weapons, and they advocated for diplomacy to identify, disrupt, and destroy the global organizations of terrorist. The paper describes how a balanced power can be used to achieve international peace and security.
The global security agenda started emerging after the end of Cold War when the world at large started thinking about security following its concern on the humanitarian dimensions (Westad, 2005, p.111). The UN Security Council developed a possible collective security. The Collective Security Council consisted of the Commander-in-Chief and the Heads of the States Parties of the Allied Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are used outside the territories of the States Parties to exclusively be in the interests of international security based on the line of the UN Charter.
We can do it today.
Player of International Peace and Security
These are groups that came together to ensure that international peace and security are maintained, and they include the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), and International Criminal Court (ICC).
The United Nations
The UN Charter was drafted in 1945 at the end of World War II with the intention of preventing occurrence of any other war. The indirect declaration by the United Nations of 1942, January 1 persuaded against the Axis powers to end Second World War (Lee, 1991, p.132). The Moscow Declaration of October 1943 comprised the Big Four Countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China. These States advocated for the principles of sovereign equality to all States advocating for peace. It is composed of a body, the Security Council that performs the role of maintaining international peace and security (Aksu, 2003, p.18). For this body to execute its mandate comprehensively, it acquired great powers. The UN Security Council was to adopt the concept of collective security with the intention of adopting the traditional concepts of defending. The Security Council was to be a dominant organ within the United Nations. The Security Council was also mandated to deal with acts of aggression, threats to the international peace, and breaches of peace (Cryer, 2010, p.163). In addition, the launching of peacekeeping operations was another authority given to Security Council. However, the forces for peacekeeping were not to be used automatically in any kinds of dispute found within the big powers. All these activities were done with the intention of protecting human life, the abolition of destructive weapons, and preservation of territorial borders.
The alliances that guarantee collective defence include Warsaw Pact and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that were also agents for the UN in promoting global peacekeeping (Heuser, 2014, p.5). In many occasions, the UN preferred the use of NATO to assist with enforcement action since it comprises of the capable organization in the world. The former Communist bloc countries adopted NATO as their area of defence by shaping legal and institutional arrangements of such States (Stewart, 2005, p.81). However, NATO reforms faced some domestic opposition especially in Eastern and Central European Countries believed to be dominated by pro-West elites.
What necessitated the operations of the UN was the fact that they secured a pleasant international environment that enables it to provide peace in areas where it did not exist and achieved peace where it existed (Kerr, & Mobekk, 2007, p.71). The achievement of peacekeeping is through international cooperation between the Security Council and former superpower. Therefore, UN is the first generation of traditional peacekeeping (Olsson, & Gizelis, 2015, p.6)
Role played by United Nations
Apart from peacekeeping, the UN adopted various ways of ensuring that peace and security prevail globally. These other methods include countering terrorism, disarmament, and peacebuilding. The peacebuilding activities of the UN focuses on assisting countries that are prone to conflict by laying the foundation for sustainable peace and development (Thakur, 2016, p.43). The UN peacebuilding strategies depended on the peacebuilding fund, the peacebuilding support office, and the peace-building commission. All these contributors to peacebuilding activities work in unison. For instance, the peacebuilding support office supports and assist the peace-building commission with policy guidance and the strategic advice that helps achieve their set goals. The same commission also monitors the peace building funds (Katayanagi, 2002, p.3). Concerning counter terrorism, the UN has devised mechanisms that help them coordinate the global fight against any form of terror attack. The UN system has elaborated specific terror activities that threaten global security. Following this, all the UN member States have been encouraged to adopt the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (Feinberg, 2016, p.6). Moreover, the UN and the General Assembly are working closely to advance international peace and security. Consequently, due to the struggle against terrorism, the global communities and the world’s great powers are on the same side to fight for the civilians in ensuring that peace prevails. At this point, these bodies fight for the elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destructions
International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court (ICC) is a court established in 1998 with the aim of investigating and trying individuals accused of committing a serious offence that has pulled the international community concern (Findlay, 2013, p.91). Such crimes may be behind a Genocide. When the accused is found to be guilty, then the Court punishes them. In some situations, the ICC members failed to acknowledge that some members States were to be used law discriminately whenever a judgment is made (Fitzmaurice, & Elias, 2004, p.288). However, it is not clear when the decisions made by ICC should result in direct convictions depending on the perpetrated atrocities. The Court is located at The Hague in Netherlands, but the judges are allowed to sit in any one of its States as long as there is a consideration that the country is favourable. Moreover, this becomes possible since Court has set up offices in areas where the investigation is being conducted. Many people for a long time have mistaken that the ICC is an agency of the United Nations. However, the truth is that ICC is an independent body considered an independent court, and this implies that Court is neither an office nor agency of the UN. The ICC can only exercise its jurisdiction in areas where the State involved willingly submits itself to the Court by being a party to the Rome Statute (Mendes, 2010, p.34). Besides, States that are not a party to the Statues may also seek the ICC to investigate a matter in their countries. During this time, the Court is only allowed to prosecute individuals, but not a State or group. Additionally, anybody under 18 years of age cannot be tried under the jurisdiction of ICC despite the magnitude of the offense committed. Therefore, this Court was formed for ensuring that human rights are not infringed, most States have tried solving their disputes in a soberly.
The European Union
The European Union (EU) in 1950 under the Pleven Plan who proposed creating a European Army and a European Defence Community that failed to pass the stage of ratification (Wessel, 1999, p.65). All the proposals made by the European nations carried out before the 1970s failed to ratify.
Effects of International Peace and Security on the Environment
The environmental resources that may have effects on the security and peace globally include water that may be scarce or degraded and land could experience ecosystem degradation, desertification, soil erosion or deforestation (Spruyt, 2005, p.4). Similarly, the security and peace of environment is influenced by social challenges such as human population. These factors may interact in various ways resulting in environmental stress that can be extreme thereby ending up in violence. The stress, therefore, exists during the enforcement of environmental protection issues with the intention of adjusting to climate changes that reduce the dangerous consequences that may result from variations in the climatic conditions. Most violent outcomes experienced because of environmental stress depend on the political process such as State interaction. The result of political processes may be poverty that in turn resulted in human migration. Such mobility causes internal conflict that may result in civil war or protest among the civilians. However, rarely do environmental issues perceived as a significant threat to security problems. Moreover, political issues also affect both local and international peace. For instance, around 1955 to 1956, a political settlement was reached by the Royal Government through the help of the International Commission to deal with the rising battalions meant to be incorporated into the Royal Army (Black, & Thornton, 1964, p. 14). During this time, the joint effort brought the peace that did not last past elections.
Effects of International Peace and Security on Economy
The emergence of capitalism and socialism during the Cold War resulted to mixed economies because both economic and socio-political systems were not pure (Page, & Redclift, 2002, p.58). What necessitated this was the fact that the national government was responsible for the management of the microeconomics policies. In this case, trade became the major backbone of the rapid growth of international system experienced in the post-Cold War era. The goods and services acquired during this trade opened ways to advance industrialized countries. A model for development was also made to bridge the gap between wealthy and developing countries through the provision of development aid by the rich States (Polanyi, 2001, p.16).
However, in the modern society, people have shown less priority for food and agriculture, but they are instead focusing on building the structure. Moreover, the majority of countries have currently been adopting both multilateral and bilateral economic aid programs that have contributed significantly to the maintenance of peace (Goldstein, & Mansfield, 2012, p.4). Therefore, modernization refers to the rapid changes in human affairs where individuals have less control over their environment unlike in the traditional society. The action resulted in social disintegration that brought about the division between the inner cities and poor areas, which eventually led to the rise of micro-war-zone (Green, 2008, p.6). For this reason, people have been experiencing poor standards of living and widespread poverty. The economic growth of different nations experienced at various stages of development thereby improving military capability of such countries.
Balance of Power
The balance of power is the formation of most exemplary alliance security system created by historians and politicians with the aim of maintaining peace. The military capability of States involved are distributed in a manner that none of the States has stronger can dominate others security wise. A power balance is a system that came into use at the end of Napoleonic Wars to World War I (Little, 2007, p.3). The balance of power was considered a component of peace in various countries worldwide. Moreover, leaders mostly preferred the balance of power from countries that were weak to their stronger opponents. The balance of power was seen to be successful because during the historical time it was used in settling disputes of frequent wars that occurred during that time thereby keeping peace among the locals (Wohlforth, 2007, p.157). In this case, the war was inevitable, and it resulted from border disputes, political issues, or immigration. The use of the balance of power usually focuses on the empirical splitting of a countries sovereignty
Furthermore, while a balanced power was mostly used in maintaining peace and security, the States involved had close relationship making them break and shift ties. Similarly, a balance of power was a successful policy tool used to prevent any war that could diffuse in the International’s system power structure. At this point, there was a balance between different power blocs. Therefore, there is an affirmation that a balance of power can contribute substantially to international peace and security. However, after the end of Second World War, a balanced power had never been used because the power has concentrated in the hands of the two superpowers with different ideologies making it hard to shift the relationship of these alliances. Nonetheless, the implementation of a balance of power in international peace and security could work but not efficient because it may not conform to the changing global environment (Fortmann, Paul, & Wirtz, 2004, p.32). Besides, despite the fact that maintaining a balance of power enhances peace, it may face some challenges regarding the power situation in the contemporary world keeps changing with the advancement in new technology.
Conclusion
The international peace and security have been a major concern after Second World War to help avert the occurrence of any other war. The threat to worldwide peace and security started back from the historical root resistance where the opposition of religious fundamentalism existed from both the Eastern and Western society. Global terrorism is still a major threat to date since it involves the use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destructions. These weapons when used in an environment, they result in negative impact on the ecosystem. Following this, the United Nations was formed to help restore the global peace, and this majorly focuses on the counter-terrorism system that was to see the extinction of these groups. Apart from the UN, other groups responsible for international peace and security include the European Union and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC under its jurisdiction allows for prosecution of individuals, but neither a group nor a State. However, the Court’s jurisdiction does not enable ICC to try anybody under 18 years of age. The balance of power, on the contrary, is the formation of security alliance system created by politicians and historians to maintain peace and it comes in use after World War I. For this reason, the balance of power was a successful historical way of maintaining peace by settling frequent disputes that ended up causing war and in turn keeping peace among the locals. The balance of power created order in different power blocs, which is a successful tool that helps in preventing any form of war that could diffuse in the International’s power systems structures. Furthermore, the implementation of a balance of power in international peace and security could work but not efficient because it may not conform to the changing global environment. Despite the fact that maintaining a balance of power enhances peace, it may face some challenges in the power situation in the contemporary world keeps changing with the advancement in new technology. Therefore, it can then be concluded that a balance of power can contribute significantly to international peace and security.
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