The use of force (the use of power) has always been a critical issue for political, legal, and ethical reasons in world politics.

The reason is that many multilateral conventions were signed within the context of the United Nations that banned the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons as well as outlawed the use of such weapons.

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): “This Treaty, which is unique in the political history of the world, is aimed at halting the course of this history in a crucial field by fixing once and for all the number of nuclear weapon powers. It defines this type of power, furthermore, as a State which manufactured and exploded a nuclear
weapon or any other explosive nuclear device before 1 January 1967,

The UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945

It came into force on October 24, 1945.

In principle, the UN Charter has outlawed initiating a war of aggression.

The UN Charter has not outlawed the use of defensive force or waging a defensive war.

1.Article 2/4 of the UN Charter

2.Article 2/6 of the UN Charter

3.Article 2/7 of the UN Charter

4.Article 51 of the UN Charter

5.Article 53 of the UN Charter

The legal key term in the wording of Article 2/7 is the domestic jurisdiction of states.

The right of self-defense is enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter

Article 51 provides that “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 has
taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.

Chapter VI of the UN Charter empowers the Security Council on the issue of “peaceful resolution of disputes” among states and defines various political and judicial solutions.

Chapter VII of the UN Charter gives the authorization to the Security Council to take precautions of the implementation of necessary sanctions and coercive measures, including the use of force.

The concept of, and the mission of, peacekeeping is something invented by the then UN SecretaryGeneral Dag Hammarskjöld,

When the Security Council was not able to act on the issues under its authority during the heyday of the Cold War simply because the permanent members failed to reach a consensus and frequently resorted to their veto power, the General Assembly passed Resolution 377 (the “Uniting for Peace” decision) on November 3, 1950 (Reicher, 1981).

• United Nations Mission for Justice Support
in Haiti (MINUJUSTH)
• UnitedNationsMission fortheReferendum
in Western Sahara (MINURSO)
• United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in the
Central African Republic (MINUSCA)
• United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali
(MINUSMA)
• United Nations Organization Stabilization
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (MONUSCO)

.African Union - United Nations Hybrid

Operation in Darfur (UNAMID)
• United Nations Disengagement Observer
Force (UNDOF)
• United Nations Peacekeeping Force in
Cyprus (UNFICYP)
• United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL)
• United Nations Interim Security Force for
Abyei (UNISFA)
• United Nations Interim Administration
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
• United Nations Mission in the Republic of
South Sudan (UNMISS)
• United Nations Military Observer Group
in India and Pakistan (UNGOMIP)
• United Nations Truce Supervision
Organization (UNTSO).

 The UN also has an ongoing political mission called the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UN, 2018b).

1) The UN Operation in Congo (UNOC): started on July 14, 1960 with the Security Council Resolution 143 and continued until June 1964;

2) The UN Operation in Somali (UNOSOM II)

 Humanitarian intervention, protecting state citizens, and terrorism.

Humanitarian intervention has not only a legal dimension but also philosophical and political dimensions that would help one to come up with reasons to legitimize or delegitimize the UN and NATO interventions as well as
individual interventions by state actors.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): NAM is an international organization with 120 member states.

There are two main approaches in the IR literature with regard to military interventions or use of
force based on a treaty.

According to the first approach that supports such interventions, making a treaty
is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of states.

The second approach to military interventions or use of force based on a treaty takes into account
the concept of “peremptory norm” (jus cogens) and holds that a treaty that would eliminate the political sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of states cannot be duly signed in international relations.

International terrorism is the threat of violence or the use of violence to create fear in a target group toward achieving certain political objectives.