is Íslenska en English

Lokaverkefni (Meistara)

Háskóli Íslands > Félagsvísindasvið > Meistaraprófsritgerðir - Félagsvísindasvið >

Vinsamlegast notið þetta auðkenni þegar þið vitnið til verksins eða tengið í það: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/17779

Titill: 
  • Titill er á ensku Legal Aspects of Foreign Military Intervention in Civil Wars
Námsstig: 
  • Meistara
Leiðbeinandi: 
Útdráttur: 
  • Útdráttur er á ensku

    The purpose of this thesis is to examine on what grounds third states can legitimately resort to the use of force in the form of military intervention in civil wars. To answer this question, an examination of the substantive rules governing the use of force in international relations is required. Thus, the first Chapter of this thesis will be devoted to the legal framework for interventions in civil wars. It provides a short summary of the characteristics of international law, which is essential to understanding how international law comes into being and its binding nature towards states. Further, it provides a general classification of conflicts and discusses the general principles regarding military interventions, including the general prohibition on the use of force, the principle of state sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention. This might suggest that no legal ground could be found for international intervention in civil wars, but the matter is not that simple. Military interventions by foreign states in civil wars may presumably be justified on various grounds.
    The clearest exception of legitimate military intervention in civil wars is the Security Council’s competence to authorize enforcement measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, described in Chapter 2 of this thesis. The Chapter will cover the structure of the UN, the idea of a collective security system and examine the legal basis for the Security Council’s involvement in civil wars and its practice. In the absence of Security Council authorization, there is only one generally accepted justification for the otherwise illegal use of force, which is self-defence due to armed attack. How collective self-defence can be exercised as to cover foreign intervention in civil wars will be discussed in Chapter 1.6. Other possibilities of legitimate resort to force have been debated and will be examined with regards to civil wars in Chapter 3, which deals with intervention upon invitation, and Chapter 4, discussing unilateral interventions such as humanitarian intervention, intervention in pursuit of democracy and unilateral military intervention by regional organizations.
    In order to reveal the current law regarding the matter, an assessment of both the relevant rules and their implementation in practice is required. It should be noted that it can be difficult to draw conclusions from state practice since states often invoke several justifications for their interventions and sometimes none at all. Interventions may also have been illegal without a court or other instruments defining it as such. As has been described, every chapter of this thesis covers a very broad sphere of studies and state practice. The aim of this thesis is to present a clear overview of the above-mentioned issues while it of course cannot present a comprehensive assessment of this section of international law.

Samþykkt: 
  • 5.5.2014
URI: 
  • http://hdl.handle.net/1946/17779


Skrár
Skráarnafn Stærð AðgangurLýsingSkráartegund 
MESTARARITGERÐ - LOKASKIL (3) copy.pdf1.1 MBOpinnMeginmálPDFSkoða/Opna
Forsíða og kápa.pdf156.7 kBOpinnForsíðaPDFSkoða/Opna