ABSTRACT
The twentieth century will be remembered for its ravaging global connectedness, characterized by two world wars, a cold war and unprecedented colonial and post-colonial violence. This period also experienced an increase in caution around inter-state relationships, with a balance of power mechanism regulated within the framework of the United Nations (UN) since 1945. According to the Charter of the United Nations, international law is maintained by the principles of sovereign equality and independence of all states, non-interference in the domestic jurisdictions of states, the prohibition of the use of force by one state (or states) against another, and the universal respect for, and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.1 Through the creation of the UN, international relations were concretized within the Westphalia model, in which the right of sovereigns to govern their peoples was expected to be free of outside interference, whether any such external claim to interfere would be based on political, legal or religious principles.2
