Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T22:35:29.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Of Collapsed, Dysfunctional and Disoriented States: Challenges to International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

Nii Lante Wallace-Bruce
Get access

Extract

The recent events in East Timor and Kosovo have demonstrated clearly that human brutality and wanton behaviour are not elements which are exclusive to the African continent, but rather they are manifestations of the human condition. However, it is fair to say that Africa has had more than its fair share. In particular, the African continent has recently had states which have experienced anarchy to levels where the state has either collapsed completely or has become dysfunctional.

Type
Articles
Information
Netherlands International Law Review , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , May 2000 , pp. 53 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2. E.g., Grant, T.D., ‘Defining Statehood: The Montevideo Convention and its Discontents’, 37 Col. J. Trans. L (1999) p. 403Google Scholar; Crawford, J., The Creation of States in International Law (Oxford, Clarendon Press 1979);Google ScholarWallace-Bruce, N.L., Claims to Statehood in International Law (New York, Carlton Press 1994) chs. 3 and 4.Google Scholar

3. Anghie, A., ‘Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in Nineteen-Century International Law’, 40 Harvard ILJ(1999) p. 1.Google Scholar

4. Davidson, B., The Black Man's Burden, Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State (London, James Currey 1992) ch.7.Google Scholar

5. Ibid.; Makau wa Mutua, ‘Why Redraw the Map of Africa: A Moral and Legal Inquiry’, 16 Mich. JIL (1995) p. 1113Google Scholar; Wallace-Bruce, op. cit. n. 2, at ch. 2.

6. Duursma, J., Fragmentation and the International Relations of Micro-States, Self-determination and Statehood (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1996) p. 386.Google Scholar

7. Wallace-Bruce, N.L., ‘Taiwan and Somalia: International Legal Curiosities’, 22 Queen LJ (1997) p. 453.Google Scholar

8. Baker, R., Challenges to Traditional Concepts of Sovereignty (Occasional Paper No. 37; Readings in Comparative and International Affairs; School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, July 1999);Google ScholarSchachter, O., ‘The Decline of the Nation-State and its Implications for International Law’, 36 Col. J Trans. L (1997) p. 7.Google Scholar

9. See ‘Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons’, ICI Rep. (1996) p. 226 and ‘Legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict’, ICI Rep. (1996) p. 66.

10. Wallace-Bruce, N.L., The Settlement of International Disputes, The Contribution of Australia and New Zealand (The Hague, Kluwer 1998) pp. 112–116;Google ScholarMerrills, J.G., International Dispute Settlement, 3rd edn. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1998) pp. 121–123.Google Scholar

11. Art. XII of the Agreement establishing the WTO.

12. Art. 2(7) of the UN Charter.

13. Peterson, M.J., Recognition of Governments, Legal Doctrine and State Practice 1815–1995 (Basingstoke, Macmillan Press 1997);Google ScholarRoth, B.R., Governmental Illegitimacy in International Law (Oxford, Clarendon Press 1999), esp. chs. 5 and 7.Google Scholar

14. See generally, Roth, op. cit. n. 13, at pp. 30–35; Gordon, R., ‘United Nations Intervention in Internal Conflicts: Iraq, Somalia, and Beyond’, 15 Mich. JIL (1994) p. 519.Google Scholar

15. Helman, G.B. and Ratner, S.R., ‘Saving Failed States’, 89 Foreign Policy (1992–1993) p. 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16. Mutharika, A.P., ‘A Symposium on Reevisioning the Security Council: Essay: The Role of the United Nations Security Council in African Peace Management: Some Proposals’, 17 Mich. JIL (1996) p. 537 at p. 561.Google Scholar

17. Idem, at p. 542.

18. Mutharika, A.P., ‘Some Thoughts on Rebuilding African State Capability’, 76 WashingtonUniversity Law Quarterly (1998) p. 281 at p. 285.Google Scholar

19. Zartman, I.W., ‘Introduction: Posing the Problem of State Collapse’, in Zartman, I.W., ed., Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority (Boulder, Col., Rienner 1995) ch. 1.Google Scholar

20. Foltz, W.J., ‘Reconstructing the State of Chad’, in idem, at ch 2.Google Scholar

21. Schutz, B., ‘The Heritage of Revolution and the Struggle for Governmental Legitimacy in Mozambique’, in idem, at ch. 7.Google Scholar

22. Keller, E., ‘Remaking the Ethiopian State’, in idem, at ch. 8.Google Scholar

23. E.g., Bongartz, M.B., ‘The United Nations Intervention in Somalia’, in Adam, H.M. and Ford, R., eds., Mending Rips in the Sky, Options for Somali Communities in the 21st Century (Laurenceville, N.J., The Red Sea Press 1997) ch. 36Google Scholar; Chopra, J., Eknes, A. and Nordbo, T., Fighting for Hope in Somalia (Oslo, NUPI 1995)Google Scholar chs. V and VI.

24. NGA Resolution 1746 (XVI). See also Higgins, R., The Development of International Law through the Political Organs of the United Nations (London, Oxford University Press 1963) p. 22.Google Scholar

25. Mutharika, , loc. cit. n. 16, at pp. 547–548Google Scholar; Makau wa Mutua, loc. cit. n. 5, at p. 1118.

26. See, e.g., Wallace-Bruce, N.L., ‘A Comparative Look at the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and their Contribution to the Development of International Criminal Law’, 2 Journal of Chinese and Comparative Law (1996) p. 36.Google Scholar

27. Lowenkopf, M., ‘Liberia: Putting the State Back Together’, in Zartman, op. cit. n. 19, at ch. 6.Google Scholar

28. Levitt, J., ‘Humanitarian Intervention by Regional Actors in Internal Conflicts: The Cases of ECOWAS in Liberia and Sierra Leone’, 12 Temp. Int. & Comp. LJ (1998) p. 333 at pp. 343–344.Google Scholar

29. Idem, at p. 333, fn. 54.

30. Idem, at p. 350; Roth, op. cit. n. 13, at pp. 395–396.

31. Lowenkopf, op. cit. n. 27, at ch. 6.

32. Levitt, loc. cit. n. 28, at p. 365.

33. ‘International: The Darkest Comer of Africa’, The Economist, 9 January 1999, p. 41.

34. Nowrott, K. and Schabacker, E.W., ‘The Use of Force to Restore Democracy: International Legal Implications of the ECOMOG Intervention in Sierra Leone’, 14 Am. UILR (1998) p. 321 at p. 326.Google Scholar

35. Ibid.

36. Under the deal, the rebel leaders have returned to Sierra Leone and joined the government. See The West Australian, Wednesday, 20 October 1999, p. 24.

37. ‘International: Waking from Sierra Leone's Long Nightmare’, The Economist, 3 July 1999, p. 35; E. Barnes, ‘The Heart of Darkness’, Time, 25 January 1999, p. 3; The Australian, 29 September 1999, p. 13.

38. Roth, op. cit. n. 13, at p. 406.

39. Generally, H. Beemelmans, ‘State Succession in International Law: Remarks on Recent Theory and State Praxis’, 15 Boston t//ZJ(1997) p. 71

40. See, e.g, Janev, I., ‘Legal Aspects of the Use of a Provisional Name for Macedonia in the United Nations System’, 93 AJIL (1999) p. 155;CrossRefGoogle ScholarScharf, M.P., ‘Musical Chairs: The Dissolution of States and Membership in the United Nations’, 28 Cornell ILJ (1995) p. 29;Google ScholarDegan, V.-D., et al. , ‘Correspondents’ Agora: UN Membership of the Former Yugoslavia’, 87 AJIL (1993) pp. 240–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41. See Case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) (Request and Further Requests for the Indication of Provisional Measures), 95 ILR (1994) p. 1; ICJ Rep. (1993) pp. 3 and 325.

42. Wallace-Brace, , loc. cit. n. 7, at p. 453.Google Scholar

43. I.M. Samater, ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel: Some Reflections on the Straggle of the Somali National Movement’, in Adam and Ford, op. cit. n. 23, at ch. 3; H.M. Adam, ‘Somalia: A Terrible Beauty being Bom?’, in Zartman, op. cit. n. 19, at p. 88.

44. Bryden, M., ‘New Hope for Somalia? The Building Block Approach’, 26 Review of African Political Economy (1999) p. 134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45. Ibid.

46. Carroll, A.J. and Rajagopal, B., ‘The Case for the Independent State of Somaliland’, 8 Am. UJIL & Pol’y (1993) p. 653; Samater, op. cit. n. 43, at p. 47.Google Scholar

47. ‘International: A Nomad's Life is Hard’, The Economist, 7 August 1999, p. 35.

48. See Bryden, , loc. cit. n. 44, at p. 134.Google Scholar

49. ‘International: A Failed State that is Succeeding in Parts’, The Economist, 28 August 1999, p. 33.

50. Bryden, , loc. cit. n. 44, at p. 136.Google Scholar

51. See recommendations in Adam and Ford, op. cit. n. 23, at ch. 41; R. Ford, ‘Rebuilding Somalia: A Methodology that starts from the Bottom’, in idem, at ch. 26.

52. Ibid.

53. See Ibid. at p. 136 for details.

54. E.g., Makau wa Mutua, loc. cit. n. 5, at p. 1113.

55. Generally, Mortimer, R.A., ‘ECOMOG, Liberia, and Regional Security in West Africa’, in Keller, E.J. and Rothchild, D., eds., Africa in the New International Order, Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security (Boulder, Col., Lynne Rienner 1996)Google Scholar ch. 10; M.A. Vogt, ‘The Involvement of ECOWAS in Liberia's Peacekeeping’, in idem, at ch. 11.

56. ECOWAS Communique of 7 August 1990 reprinted in Roth, op. cit n. 13, at p. 396.

57. Levitt, , loc. cit. n. 28, at p. 333.Google Scholar

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid. at p. 335; Nowrot and Schabacker, loc. cit. n. 34, at pp. 330–331.

60. Levitt, , loc. cit. n. 28, at p. 373.Google Scholar

61. Nowrot, and Schabacker, , loc. cit. n. 34, at p. 400.Google Scholar

62. Increasingly, however, ECOMOG lost its impartial role as it became partisan in the conflict. In the end, order and stability were restored in Liberia when ECOWAS made peace with Charles Taylor, who became president in the democratic elections which followed. See Roth, op. cit n. 13, at p. 398.

63. Ibid. at pp. 397 and 399; Murphy, S.D., ‘Democratic Legitimacy and the Recognition of States and Governments’, 48 I & CLQ (1999) p. 545 at p. 580; Roth, op. cit. n. 13, at p. 412.Google Scholar