The UN Security Council and the Politics of International Authority

Observes how the growth of the political authority of the Council challenges the basic idea that states have legal autonomy over their domestic affairs. The individual essays survey the implications that flow from these developments in the crucial policy areas of: terrorism; economic sanctions; the prosecution of war crimes; human rights; humanitarian intervention; and the use of force. In each of these areas, the evidence shows a complex and fluid relation between state sovereignty, the power of the United Nations, and the politics of international legitimation. Demonstrating how world politics has come to accommodate the contradictory institutions of international authority and international anarchy, this book makes an important contribution to how we understand and study international organizations and international law. Written by leading experts in the field, this volume will be of strong interest to students and scholars of international relations, international organizations, international law and global governance.

Bruce Cronin is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Master’s Program in International Relations at the City College of New York, USA. He is the author of Institutions for the Common Good: International Protection Regimes in International Society and Community Under Anarchy: Transnational Identity and the Evolution of Cooperation.

Ian Hurd is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University, USA. He is the author of After Anarchy: Legitimacy and Power in the UN Security Council.

Part 1: Concepts 1. Introduction Bruce Cronin and Ian Hurd 2. Theories and Tests of International Authority Ian Hurd Part 2: Sources of Council Authority 3. Delegation and the Nature of Security Council Authority Erik Voeten 4. International Consensus and the Changing Legal Authority of the Security Council Bruce Cronin 5. The Security Council as Legislature Ian Johnstone 6. The Security Council and the Challenges and Perils of Normative Overstretch George Andropolous Part 3: The Exercise of Council Authority 7. Creating Authority by the Council: The International Criminal Tribunals Wayne Sandholtz 8. NGOs and the Security Council: Authority All Around But For Whose Interest? Jonathan Graubart 9. The Uniting for Peace Resolution and Other Ways of Circumventing the Authority of the Security Council Mitushi Das and Jean Krasno Part 4: Conclusion 10. Assessing the Council’s Authority Bruce Cronin and Ian Hurd