Key points for reflection:

• Historical use of force/war as an instrument of foreign policy, conquest of territory, even destruction of other party
• 1919 League Covenant, 1929 Kellogg-Briand Pact gradually prohibited armed force; culminated in UN Charter prohibition
• Charter exceptions:
1. Consent of the State in which operations are taken
2. Self-defence
3. Collective security pursuant to Security Council decision
• Contested doctrines:

• ‘Humanitarian intervention’: armed intervention to protect civilian lives despite no Security Council approval
• ‘Responsibility to Protect’: attempt to impose preventive obligations but retreat from humanitarian unilateralism
• Peacekeeping by the UN or regional organisations