International Relations Commons^™

The Responsibility To Protect: Three Pillars And Four Crimes, Heraldo Muñoz

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The adoption of the concept of “Responsibility to Protect” (RtoP) by the Heads of State and Government in the September 2005 United Nations World Summit was a historic landmark which has generated great attention as a potentially powerful instrument to impede humanitarian tragedies. Yet much has been missing, or misinterpreted, in the public discussion of this emerging norm. Some fear that RtoP could be abused by powerful countries to intervene in developing nations alleging altruistic motives, while others believe that RtoP is already a rule of customary international law that should be applied unconditionally and without delay in the face …

The (Non-) Impact Of Un Sanctions On North Korea, Marcus Noland

Marcus Noland

This study finds that North Korea’s nuclear test and the imposition of UN Security Council sanctions have had no perceptible effect on North Korea’s trade with its two largest partners, China and South Korea. Before North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, it was widely believed that such an event would have cataclysmic diplomatic ramifications. However, beginning with visual inspection of data and ending with time-series models, no evidence is found to support the notion that these events have had any effect on North Korea’s trade with its two principal partners. In retrospect, North Korea may have calculated quite correctly …

James Pattison On Waging Humanitarian War: The Ethics, Law, And Politics Of Humanitarian Intervention By Eric A. Heinze. Albany: Suny Press, 2009. 224pp., James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Waging Humanitarian War: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Humanitarian Intervention by Eric A. Heinze. Albany: SUNY Press, 2009. 224pp.

Why Has The United States Never Ratified The Un Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women?, Hannah Elizabeth Kington

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted by the United Nations in 1979, has now been ratified by 185 countries, consisting of more than ninety percent of all UN members. The United States, however, has never ratified the Convention. The history of the Convention provides evidence of global support for women’s rights. While there are complex reasons behind the United States’ failure to ratify CEDAW, the United States’ commitment to unilateralism, an attitude of “American exceptionalism” and the long-term inequality and discrimination against women in the U.S. all contribute to the stifling of …

Marten Zwanenburg On International Peacekeeping Edited By Boris Kondoch. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. 578pp., Marten Zwanenburg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

International Peacekeeping edited by Boris Kondoch. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. 578pp.

Stephen James On Human Rights At The Un: The Political History Of Universal Justice By Roger Normand & Sarah Zaidi. Bloomington, In: Indiana University Press. 2008. 486pp., Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights at the UN: The Political History of Universal Justice by Roger Normand & Sarah Zaidi. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 2008. 486pp.