The Use of Force Against Other Countries

The world we live in comprises of many countries with different political governments, ideas, people, culture, and religious beliefs. It is, therefore, common for conflicts and disputes to arise from time to time. The conflicts may be internal or external. Internal conflicts arise within nation boundaries as a result of the above factors. Foreign conflicts happen between two or more nations as a result of various factors as stated above. The arguments sometimes cause civil wars in the involved nations leading to mass deaths and destruction of property. When such crisis happens, other countries try to come in between to bring back peace to the nations at war. It that point that has led to the widespread debate on the use of force against other countries.

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The devastating effects of the 1st World War and 2nd World War resulted in the need of establishment of a body that would set rules and laws on governing the different nations of the world. The body formed was the United Nations in the year 1945 with headquarters in New York. The main agenda of the organization is to promote international peace and cooperation among the member states. The organization sets laws on the various ways to keep peace and avoid international disputes. The organization has several branches to achieve that. One of the main branches is the Security Council that discusses security threats to member countries and how to deal with them. It also has the international court of justice (Hague) that prosecutes and tries criminals who go against the certain laws (Al-Qahtani, 2002).

Throughout the globe, the use of force has and continues to be in use for various purposes to punish the states that do not comply with the laws. The United Nations contains laws known as the UN Charter and in the article2 (4), it regulates the use of force by the members (Christian.J.Tams, 2009). The international military tribunal and the United Nations charter were created concerning international law. They also protect the coming generations from war. The members agreed that the use of force was prohibited unless it was in the interest of all the nations. The charter is; however, open to amendments as circumstances may dictate. However, the use of the international law continues to face several challenges in its implementation. Politics and member state laws continue to impact on the implementation of the laws.

Several member states continue to assert the claim of protecting their citizens abroad. Examples include the USA force in the Republic of Dominic in the year 1965, Israel in Entebbe in the year 1976, and the United Kingdom in the Suez Canal in the year 1956. Other examples are the USA use of force in Panama and Grenada in 1989 and 1983 respectively. The USA activities in Grenada were highly political. It was because the USA was widely against the uprising of socialism in the Grenada government. This incident was condemned by the United Nations.

The rise of terrorism and radicalization is currently an issue of concern when it comes to applying of military force and the existing international laws. Several nations are now advocating for the right to intervene in the terrorism war without the Security Councils permission. The issue continues to attract a lot of attention from various countries. For example, the ongoing war in Syria and Turkey continue to draw divided views from different political leaders and scholars. The USA and several other developed countries are considering the option of joining the war too. However, the United Nations Security Council is against the idea since it is contrary to the laws.

The main legal problem is that international law recognizes the need for individual nations to settle their dispute in a peaceful manner without the intervention of outside forces. Somalia for example has been at war for a very long time due to political instability (Gray, 2008). It is not until recently, when the Al-Shabab terrorist group killed innocent Kenyans, which the United Nations authorized the use of force in the country. There were a lot of politics regarding the use of force in Somalia since the United Nations seemed to hesitate in its action. Member states accuse the developed countries especially the USA of controlling the United Nations. Incidences, where the USA use military force in other countries, seem to be acceptable to the United Nations, and no action is taken against the USA. The case is, however, different when other nations appear to use military force on other countries.

When the Kenyan launched a military attack in Somalia back in the year 2011, the United Nations was very much against the action. It was because it is against the charter. The same case applies to the Libya case where the USA government played a role in bringing an end to the civil war in the country (Chivvis, 2014). Some people accused the USA of having some political motives in Libya other than ending the civil war. Several nations were against the USA involvement in Libya since it seemed to interfere with the running of the government in Libya.

The developed nations seem to be divided when it comes to the issue of international law and use of force to other states. There is competition between the Eastern and the Western nations when it comes to power. The use of military force seems like a show of power among the nations. The countries compete to have control in the United Nations Security Council. They, therefore, have different opinions and views whenever there arises a debate on whether to use military force in certain scenarios. Political and economic motives are the driving factors for their actions since each of the nations want to control individual economies to their advantage (Meernik, 2004).

The globalization aspect has converted the world into a small village whereby political, cultural and economic aspects of one nation spills beyond its borders to other countries. Hence, in the present century countries are the force to intervene situations, for instance, war, disease outbreaks, and floods in other countries to contain their effects and prevent them affecting them directly. Extreme use of force by nations is one of the significant oldest phenomena in the international arena, and it has its roots in the individual states sovereignty whereby they have no limits on means they can undertake to safeguard as well as protect their interest (Boele-Woelki, 2010). International law comes into play since most of the wars that have been witnessed for a long time are related to the so-called states sovereignty. Due to the extensive social awareness, there have been expansions of the limits set to the rights of initiating a war. As a result, force, as well as any other kind of threat in the international relations, has been abolished. It is now a recognized rule of law in the international criminal law and any individual or state that violated this law will face criminal responsibilities in the international community. However, the use of force can be allowed but only during particular situations, for instance, self-defense and humanitarian intervention.

In the international arena, the use of force has been used for different reasons, for instance, to intervene as well as punish a noncompliance to the set demands. War is a devastating way that is commonly used to take over territories or even to subdue a nation totally (Un.org, 2016). However, control over the use of force by the United Nations member states is controlled as outlined in the United Nations Charter. This law has been endorsed throughout all the United Nations member states, and its mandate is secured by the United Nations charter of 1945 to ensure that the use of force by any of the member states is well controlled. An article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter is used as a conduit to ban the utilization of any force either political or military by the member states. However, there is an exception in the Article; armed forces can be used in situations where there is a similar action and mission being pursued to maintain as well as enforce peace within the regions (Simma and Mosler, 1995). Additionally, the Article 2(4) allows the use of the armed forces in case there is the need for humanitarian intervention.

The used of the term "force" may not necessarily mean the armed force as most understand it. There are other aspects of force that the international law has to safeguard for instance political force and economic force. The United Nations Charter prohibits all forms of force since the armed force would mainly interfere with the territorial integrity but for the political independence, there are other forces that come into play. The United Nations Security Council, which is part of larger United Nations body, is entitled with the mandate to identify as well as constrain any actual threats to the security as well as the peace of the citizens of any of the member states. However, the power given to this body has not been fully exploited due to the availability of another alternative for instance use of sanction. United Nations had anticipated having its forces that they would use to protect the member states but on the contrary, they heavily rely on the member states get the required armed forces. For instance, when the United Nations had to use for and withdraw North Korea from South Korea, most of the armed forces came from the United States. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the United Nations Security Council had to request the member states for support and through collaboration with Kuwait; they conducted a joint operation to withdraw Iraq from Kuwait (Lawteacher.net, 2016).

In 2003, the United Nations Security Council issued a green light to Iraqs invasion since Iraq had failed to fully comply with the rules that were set regarding the manufacture of the atomic. This atomic weapon poses a threat to peace internationally and jeopardizes the security of many nations. Recently, the United Nations Security Council authorized the military to use force in the Central African Republic due to rising concerns about the security status, human rights violations, and humanitarian as well as the political crisis that the nation is facing and the adverse implications it has in the region (Sheehan, 2011). On the 10th of April 2014, the United Nations Security Council commanded a multidimensional United Nation peacekeeping operation to be carried out with the aim of protecting the civilians. Additionally, the troops will be mandated to facilitate the humanitarian assistance; support use of justice, as well as the rule of law and also, promote the protection of human rights (Howard, 2008).

Apart from the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly, there is an essential component of the provision and assurance of peace, co-operation as well as security among nations and that is the international court of justice. Regardless of the fact that the position of the court to enforce its decision on a member state who fails to comply is silent, it still protects the peace and security of the member states by prosecutions (Subedi, 2011) The court has powers to enforce its decisions and so do other bodies of the United Nations, for instance, United Nations Security Council. Moreover, the court has the obligation actively get involved in enforcement of the courts decisions (Journals.cambridge.org, 2016). The courts priority is to establish a workable agreement between the parties involved in a dispute. All the established bodies of the United Nations, plays a vital role together to ensure the existence of international peace as well as security which is the primary aim of establishing the United Nations Charter.

Globalization has necessitated the establishmen...