International anarchy is balanced by world order—rules and institutions through which states cooperate for mutual benefit.
World order has always been grounded in power, but order mediates raw power by establishing norms and habits that govern interactions among states.
States follow the rules—both moral norms and formal international laws—much more often than not.
International rules operate through institutions (IOs), with the UN at the center of the institutional network.
The UN embodies a tension between state sovereignty and supranational authority. In its Charter and history, the UN has made sovereignty the more important principle. This has limited the UN’s power.
The UN particularly defers to the sovereignty of great powers, five of whom as permanent Security Council members can each block any security-related resolution binding on UN member states.
In part because of its deference to state sovereignty, the UN has attracted virtually universal membership of the world’s states, including all the great powers.
Each of the 191 UN member states has one vote in the General Assembly, which serves mainly as a world forum and an umbrella organization for third world social and economic development efforts.
The Security Council has ten rotating member states and five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France.
The UN is administered by international civil servants in the Secretariat, headed by the secretary-general.
The regular UN budget plus all peacekeeping missions together amount to far less than 1 percent of what the world spends on military forces.
Voting patterns and coalitions in the UN have changed over the years with the expanding membership and changing conditions. Currently the U.S. is catching up on more than $1 billion in back payments to the UN.
UN peacekeeping forces are deployed in regional conflicts in five world regions. Their main role is to monitor compliance with agreements such as cease-fires, disarmament plans, and fair election rules. They were scaled back dramatically in 1995–1997, then grew rapidly again in 1998–2001.
UN peacekeepers operate under UN command and flag. Sometimes national troops operate under their own flag and command to carry out UN resolutions.
IOs include UN programs (mostly on economic and social issues), autonomous UN agencies, and organizations with no formal tie to the UN. This institutional network helps to strengthen and stabilize the rules of IR.
International law, the formal body of rules for state relations, derives from treaties (most importantly), custom, general principles, and legal scholarship—not from legislation passed by any government.
International law is difficult to enforce and is enforced in practice by national power, international coalitions, and the practice of reciprocity.
The World Court hears grievances of one state against another but cannot infringe on state sovereignty in most cases. It is an increasingly useful avenue for arbitrating relatively minor conflicts.
Most cases involving international relations are tried in national courts, where a state can enforce judgments within its own territory.
A permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) began operations in 2003. Taking over from two UN tribunals, it will hear cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
In international law, the rights of diplomats have long had special status. Embassies are considered to be the territory of their home country.
Laws of war are also long-standing and well established. They distinguish combatants from civilians, giving each certain rights and responsibilities. Guerrilla wars and ethnic conflicts have blurred these distinctions.
Wars of aggression violate norms of just war—one waged only to repel or punish aggression. It is sometimes (but not always) difficult to identify the aggressor in a violent international conflict.
International norms concerning human rights are becoming stronger and more widely accepted. However, human rights law is problematical because it entails interference by one state in another’s internal affairs.
