Contribution of the UN in International Peace and Security - Essay Example

International Peace and Security Name Institution Course Date International Peace and Security Introduction The past few years have demonstrated the effects of political conflicts and the challenges that have revolved in mounting effective international responses. Sources of stability such as criminality, sectarianism, corruption, human rights violation and extremism have been experienced in many countries around the world (Dwyer, 2012). There is an increasing gap in Millennium Development Goals between countries experiencing conflicts and insecurity. Insecurity and conflicts have affected different people in many countries and peace and security are seen as enablers and development solutions to ensuring the protection of every individual (Dwyer, 2012). Conflict can be termed as a conduct of dispute seen between political groups especially in a diverse society. This paper will detail out the positive drivers of international peace and security. It will highlight the causes of violent and conflicts and will describe dominant reasons for conflict. The paper will also highlight the role of the United Nation in curbing conflict and maintaining peace and security. The paper will argue the benefits brought about by dialogue and negotiation as a means of bringing peace and security compared to other methods such as confrontation and coercion. Causes of Violent Conflicts The causes of conflicts around the world are numerous and keep on recurring bringing about tension. The major causes of conflicts are outlined below. Ethnicity Ethnicity brings about conflicts in diverse societies. The creation of new states during independence was complemented by nation-building as a result of the different ethnic groups present. Since a nation is characterised by a web of complex cultural, social and economic concepts. People who belong to the same ethnic group have a number of similarities while those belonging to different ethnic group have a number of differences (United Nations, 2014). These differences may lead to some disagreements which bring about conflicts and violence. Political and religious Factors Power struggle, democracy, communal violence and religious disparities may bring about domestic violence. Political factors may also involve political campaigns and territorial claims against other states. Terrorism and discrimination against states bring about conflicts that may affect the countries in question. According to Schneider et al. (2010) countries such as Sudan, Iraq and Pakistan are faced with political expansionism such as terrorism which has brought about conflict and insecurity in the countries. Poor Economic Performance A strenuous cause of conflict in states is the catastrophic economic performance. Due to the debt problem and insufficient foreign aid campaign in most developing countries, economic discomfort may result which may turn out into conflict. In the core of poverty, elite groups in some countries have become the target of rivalry by other groups. As states by Martin et al. (2008), all ethnic conflicts are as a result of competition between people for the available scares resources of a country. In most African countries, there is shift towards state privatization and militarisation. The scarce resource of these countries is under civilian rule of those in power. This in the long run may result to domestic and international conflict. Contribution of UN in International Peace and Security There are a number of peacekeeping operations arrayed by the United Nation all over the world. They have about 16 peacekeeping missions with which nine of them are in Africa, three of their operations in the Middle East and two in Europe and one in America (United Nations, 2014). The United Nations has greatly contributed to the overall international peace and security since there are an increased number of blue helmets in the field than earlier years. The United Nations has spent almost eight billion dollars a year to maintain over 125,000 personnel in the field (United Nations, 2014). The organization commenced doing operations that it knows best which is commissioning of reports. For instance, in the year 2014, the Secretary General of UN, Ban Ki-moon, requested the stepping-up of the United Nations in deliberating on the future of peacekeeping operations as well as the relationship that exists between women, peace and security (United Nations, 2014). The UN focuses on conflict resolution as the main order of the day. The UN save lives and hence minimizes escalating costs by preventing breaking out of war. They have adequately done this by adopting a culture that encourages prevention throughout the organization. They have also shared their loads with member states which are inclusive of both the emerging powers as well as traditional donors (United Nations, 2014). In addition, the United Nations has come up with a peacekeeping initiative that is shaped by the circumstances in the field rather than their own interests (United Nations, 2014). The UN has gone ahead to desert cookie-cutters accesses to peace support operations by being more flexible on matters related to the duration with which their troops enter and exit their peacekeeping operation. Furthermore, the United Nations has highly contributed to international peace and security by developing strategic as well as inclusive partnership. This is essential since the United Nations has stopped navel gazing as well as fighting of petty wars and hence has gotten better at addressing regional bodies as well as non-governmental institutions and civil society groups that possess an interest in peace (United Nations, 2014). Furthermore, the organization has developed UN-resourced activities which are focused on actual as well as potential hot spots. Enablers of International Security and Peace International conflict resolution is related with operations of removing tension that exists between various states by maintaining them at consistent levels continuously by states of their goals. Therefore, there are various enablers of international security and peace includes: creation of climate of security and peace, justiciability and conflict resolution and coercive methods short of war. Creation of Climate of Security and Peace In order to bring about peace and security in states, a climate that favours these two concepts should be created. This can be done through the development of the culture of negotiation between parties involved (Martin et al., 2008). This method is based on the strategy that tries to find a common element which can create a common ground which then creates confidence for parties to work together towards bringing peace and security. In managing conflict, negotiation and dialogue strategy tends to design a map that encompass the party involved, their needs and the issue in question (Martin et al., 2008). It has the benefit of bringing about win-win situation. Parties involved in a conflict often design effective options to manage conflict before it escalates. Dialogue and diplomacy has been used to solve conflict in Libya. Over the years, Libya has undergone both political and security crisis that has brought about armed conflicts. The conflicts have resulted to civilian assaults and displacements and social and economic damage (Satyanath et al., 2004). In order to restore peace and security in the country, governmental and non-governmental organisations have put some effort in order to promote negotiated political solution. A multi-track dialogue was initiated between regional players, Libyan actors and international community. Although the condition is still delicate, there is a strong belief that dialogue and negotiation is the best way for Libya to bring about peace and security in the country (Satyanath et al., 2004). Some scholars argue that the inability of dialogue and negotiation strategy in bringing about international peace and security in Libya highlights the need for an operational strategy that would bring about visible results. As illustrated by Dwyer (2012), negotiation and dialogue is inefficient in solving deep-rooted conflict, confrontation brings about better results in terms of stability and mutual understanding. Some countries which have benefited from negotiation, dialogue and diplomacy in bringing peace and security include Iraq, Ukraine, and Yemen. Another way to bring about international peace and security is confrontation and coercion. Confrontation is termed as an aggressive, assertive and competitive means of conflict management. It is a direct expression of views about conflict situations (Schneider et al., 2010). The decision to seek for confrontation and coercion is based on the nature of the relationship between parties involves, the nature of the conflict and the ability to act on the confrontation. Constructive confrontation and coercion has been used in Lebanon to solve political crisis and conflicts. The International Support Group has used confrontation strategy to preserve Lebanon’s stability and peace. The International Support Group has directly communicated its perception and feelings about the conflict in the country with the use of minimal threatening (United Nations, 2014). Confrontation strategy in Lebanon has balanced power in the political crisis and has resulted to higher quality conflict resolution efforts. Justiciability and Conflict Resolution A good deal of fruitless contention in the wide literature developed since the First World War comes about from the phrase “justiciability” particularly when we derive it from its historical-international situation (Martin et al., 2008). The question whether a disagreement is justiciable comes through as a technical legal query. This often occurs in cases where they have been a plainly pertinent submission of a category of future conflicts. Therefore, justice can be used to resolve conflicts that arise between two parties by subjecting them to International Courts which brings one party to justice resolving the conflict. For instance, for the case of Libya, they used justiciability and conflict resolution to subject their leaders directly involved in conflicts within the country to justice by the International Criminal Court (United Nations, 2014). Coercive Methods Short of War This is severance of diplomatic relations, reprisal, boycott as well as pacific blockade which are impacted mostly by the issues surrounding prohibition of the utilization of force (Schneider et al., 2010). With relation to war, this procedure of solving disagreements in the sense of a society system of law enforcement is feeble self-help by the distressed party may only be a ways of “settling” the disputes. For instance, the United States “quarantined” Cuba in the year 1962 and hence made it clear that the correct solution to the legal baffles, coercive procedures short of war nevertheless have their role to play (United Nations, 2014). Conclusion Insecurity and conflict have overwhelmed many countries around the world. This has brought about the need for international peace to protect citizens from any form of harm. Conflict can be caused by economic instability brought about by resource scarcity. Other causes of conflicts include political and religious factors and ethnicity. There are a number of enablers that can bring about international peace and security. For instance, many countries have sort to use dialogue and negotiation to solve insecurity and violent conflict. This method is known to bring about win-win situation and is considered an effective strategy to management conflict. Confrontation and coercion are other methods used to bring peace and security. According to some scholars, it is effective in solving deep-rooted conflicts. The most effective enabler of international peace and security is negotiation and dialogue as experienced by countries such as Libya and Iraq. References Dwyer, J 2012, Negotiation and Conflict Management. The Business Communication Handbook, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W; Pearson Australia, 9th Edition, Chapter 8, p. 218-246. Martin, P., Mayer, T and Thoenig, M 2008, “Civil Wars and International Trade,” Journal of the European Economic Association, vol. 6, no. 2-3, pp. 541–55. Satyanath, S., Miguel, E and Sergenti, E 2004, “Economic Shocks and Civil Confl ict: An Instrumental Variables Approach,” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 112, no. 4, p. 725–53. Schneider, F., Buehn, A and Montenegro, C 2010, “New Estimates for the Shadow Economies all over the World,” International Economic Journal, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 443–61. United Nations 2014, Report of the Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved 8th June 2016 from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html Read More