After the Iraq War: The Future of the UN and International Law

After the Iraq War: The Future of the UN and International Law opens up a powerful and important debate on the future of world order.  The military occupation of Iraq by the United States and their allies in Sprint 2003 has confronted the United Nations with new and fundamental questions concerning its authority, its prestige, its working methods, its efficiency-even the justification of its existence in the future.  Besides the United Nations, the book concerns the general international law as such, especially the rules regarding the maintenance of peace and the prohibition of the use of force, which are also the central provisions of the United Nation Charter and the fundamental norms of customary international law.  Contemporary general international law is inextricably linked to the fate of the United Nations.  The very foundations of the post-war world order, which were established during the summer months of 1945 after the end of the Second World War, have been shaken.  As regards the evaluation of the new situation since 2003, there is no unanimity among the various nations of the world.  This divergence of fundamental positions on the future of international order which runs right through the members of the Security Council, causes structural uncertainties and tensions to an extent that was not anticipated.  The purpose of this volume is to reappraise the findings on the current situation and to give a differentiated picture of the international debate on the future world order, and its direction.