ABSTRACT
The dawning of the Cold War at the same moment as the creation of the United Nations essentially rendered the new organisation, or certainly the Security Council, ineffectual from the outset. To understand the evolution of the relationship between legality and legitimacy since the end of the Cold War, it is important to start at the beginning and look at the first major event of the new post-Cold War era. In the lead up to the Gulf War, the George Bush administration faced a significant battle at home to shore up support amongst the American public. In November 1990, Margaret Thatcher had expressed concerns over delaying action to wait for a United Nations resolution, but James Baker was adamant, “United Nations authority was crucial to sustain the support of American public opinion for military action”. The hard yards completed to obtain United Nations backing to enable the Bush administration to demonstrate international legality and support had paid off.
