International Law - UN, NATO - Essay Example

Twice in the annals of world history has there been marked deterioration in peace resulting in large scale usage of force to kill people and destroy nations that took centuries to build. The positive outcome of these two wars is in the form of United Nations to debunk any attempt by any of the nations to go to war. The history of peace can possibly look at to have started with the Peace of Westphalia in 1658 and the Treaty of Pyrenees in 1659 (Jackson RH & Owens P, 2005, p53). These treaties gain significance because of the recognition they gave to the nation states and their existence.

Much of the work done during this phase of the long wars, brought about the thinking that resulted in the formation of League of Nations at the end of the First World War. With the end of the First World War, there was a wide spread thought of bringing lasting peace to the world. In line with Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the League of Nations was born (George Gill, 1996). But that was not to be. However, the formation and the failure of the League was a lesson in the formation of the United Nations later on after the Second World War.

The thought process, as George Gill (1996) points out, was also influenced by the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. In this precursor of a pact, sixty two countries signed for not using war for cases that can be resolved by using diplomacy.In the early days of the United Nations with countries existing mostly under the two separate units, more as a bipolar world, the rules were made to contain either of them. With NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries raging a cold war that sent them up into a spiral of weapons race and tall claims of technological marvels the UN was a table to bring both the groups together (Bruno Simma, 1995).

The significance of every one of the Articles in the UN Charter should be examined under this purview. It should also be noted that with the rapid change in the political climate of the world and the world moving from the bipolar to a unilateral structure, many of these Articles could lose their sheen. The Articles of the UN charter (Charter of the United Nations, 2007) that is of interest in the current context are the following:Article 2(4):-[a]ll Members [of the UN] shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

While this article provides for the complete ban on the use of force, there are specific exceptions that the UN Charter allows (Bruno Simma, 1995). These are essentially in the form two Articles that provide for these instances of exception.Article 51:-Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council