ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the role of formal multilateral organizations –
especially the UN – in international security and particularly in reg-
ulating the use of armed force by states. A number of questions are
addressed: does a legal, or rule-based, framework regulate the use of
military force? If such a framework existed, was it undermined by the
war against Iraq of 2003 and the doctrine of the preventive use of mili-
tary force? In 2003 French President Jacques Chirac demanded: ‘‘It is
the role of the Council to set the bounds to the use of force. No one is entitled to assume the right to utilize it unilaterally and preventively.’’1
A distinctly different tone emerged from a bipartisan US Congressional
study on the UN: ‘‘Our actions are usually more effective when they
are taken in concert with others. At the same time, the United States
can, and sometimes must, act independently if collective efforts cannot
be achieved or are ineffective.’’2 Do conflicting views such as these
illustrate a fundamental rupture in international order?
