This study presents a detailed examination of the Arab League's history, development, structure and roles in an effort to understand the cause of its failure as a regional security organisation. The research's point of departure is a questioning of the nature and scope of this failure in terms of the interplay between the conditions under which it was formed and the many actors and dynamics that had a long term-impact on the prospects for the League. To this end, the study looks at the League's conditions of emergence and Arab-Arab relations with the focus on Arab national security as the main concept determining its security role. The research synthesises methods of analysis from the existing literature and schools of thought so as to identify where and why failure and success occurred in relation to international relations theories, the security and international organisations literature, and comparable international models. The development and conditions affecting the League as discussed in the research demonstrate that none of the existing broad theories or approaches can fully explain the League's failure; however, the constructivist approach, although never before applied in this context, is shown to offer the most relevant approach for explaining this organisation and its unique parameters. The research also examines the role played by the Arab League in regional peacekeeping and conflict prevention in the context of Arab national security, with Palestine as a case study.

In 1998/99 the European Union (EU) acknowledged a need for an autonomous military action force. In 2007 the European Battlegroups (EUBG) were ready for ‘rapid reaction’. Today, in the year of 2016, they have still never been deployed. – How come the EUBG still exist, even though they have never been used? By an approach of explaining outcome process tracing, this study address – How can we understand the persistence of EUBG within the European Union in terms of integration and disintegration of regional organisations? By the developed theoretical framework of Security Communities (SC), it is argued that the EU, as a ‘tight, pluralistic, mature security community’ possibly cannot revise the renowned EUBG; disintegrate the Union, due to external and internal pressures and integrated features. This is shown by a method of a triangulated approach of surveys, interviews and textual analysis. The research concludes that deep-rooted integration and strong loyalty prevent members, of a regional organisation, to express contingent dissatisfaction and/or leave cooperation.

This thesis considers how the international response to egregious crimes can be made more consistent and effective. It focuses in particular on the Security Council as the authorising mechanism for intervention and comprehensively evaluates the proposals for its reform. It shows that contrary to several existing proposals, reform to the Security Council would not improve its authorisation of international action to address atrocity crimes. Similarly, the thesis considers proposals that seek to circumvent the authority of the Security Council but rejects their capacity to bring about a more consistent humanitarian regime. Finally, it robustly considers and argues for the use of regional organisations as alternative authorising mechanisms during mass atrocities.

This study presents a detailed examination of the Arab League¿s history, development, structure and roles in an effort to understand the cause of its failure as a regional security organisation. The research¿s point of departure is a questioning of the nature and scope of this failure in terms of the interplay between the conditions under which it was formed and the many actors and dynamics that had a long term-impact on the prospects for the League. To this end, the study looks at the League¿s conditions of emergence and Arab-Arab relations with the focus on Arab national security as the main concept determining its security role. The research synthesises methods of analysis from the existing literature and schools of thought so as to identify where and why failure and success occurred in relation to international relations theories, the security and international organisations literature, and comparable international models. The development and conditions affecting the League as discussed in the research demonstrate that none of the existing broad theories or approaches can fully explain the League¿s failure; however, the constructivist approach, although never before applied in this context, is shown to offer the most relevant approach for explaining this organisation and its unique parameters. The research also examines the role played by the Arab League in regional peacekeeping and conflict prevention in the context of Arab national security, with Palestine as a case study.

Magister Legum - LLM (Public Law and Jurisprudence) / The international human rights architecture experienced a shift from states to individual rights within a state. This is mainly informed by the fact that states committed human rights atrocities against their own civilians. This necessitated a shift from an emphasis on sovereignty and noninterference to intervention on grave human rights violations. Article 2 of the UN Charter calls for respect of sovereignty and discourages the use of armed force against the territorial integrity of any state.1 To reinforce this position, the United Nations (UN) member states adopted the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine through the UN World Summit outcome document in 2005. This document effectively gave the international community the right to intervene into the affairs of a member state if the state is failing to halt human rights abuses within its territory.

When violence against civilians is high in armed conflicts, it is predicted that the UNSC will pay close attention to those conflicts. However, it does not always happen to an equal degree. Based on recently collected data of UNSC agenda-setting behaviour by Susan H. Allen and Amy T. Yuen, this paper asks: why do some conflicts receive more UNSC attention than others, despite similar levels of violence against civilians? The thesis looks into the role of ROs in the UNSC agenda-setting. To account for the variation, the thesis argues that ROs are able to influence the UNSC agenda-setting in a way that leads some conflicts to have more recurrences of items on the agenda and others less. By applying a structured focused comparison on the conflict in Darfur between 2003 – 2007, and the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar between 2016-2022, I find a correlation between representation of ROs and recurrences of agenda-items. However, correlation is not causation, and I conclude that ROs had little influence in the UNSC decision-making and that it was the interests of the P5 and the institutional role of the UN Secretary-General that lead to the variation in the number of recurrences of items on the agenda.

This thesis examines the roles and significance of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West Africa States) in conflict prevention, crisis response and security-building processes in West Africa, particularly since 2000. The importance of developing regional institutions and capacities for peace and security-building in Sub-Saharan Africa has been widely recognised since at least the mid-1990s. Not only has the African Union developed important peace and security building aims and roles, but so too have several of the sub-regional organisations in Africa, including ECOWAS in West Africa. In the late 1990s, ECOWAS Member States achieved a number of noteworthy sub-regional agreements on ECOWAS norms and mechanisms for conflict prevention, crisis response, and peace and security –building in West Africa. These agreements and mechanisms have subsequently been further developed since 2000, in a dynamic process that was informed by experience with efforts to respond to a range of crises and conflicts in the region. This thesis critically examines this process, focussing particularly on the extent to which, and how, ECOWAS norms, institutions and mechanism have continued not only to develop but also to be influential in practice. Our research demonstrates that the ECOWAS agreements and norms established by 2000 have continued subsequently to be dynamically developed and used by ECOWAS member states and West African networks, in close interaction with several international partners. It argues that these norms and mechanisms have played significant roles in influencing actual policies, practices and missions. They have therefore proved to be more than shallow symbolic or paper agreements, despite the political fragility and divisions of the region and most of its states. We argue that this cannot be adequately understood using single explanatory frameworks, such as Nigeria’s hegemonic influence or instrumental influence of external Actors such as UN, EU or USA, as has often been suggested. Adequate explanations need to combine these factors with others, including relatively consistent investment in regional norms and institutions by coalitions of some West African states (including Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria) together with civil society and parliamentary networks. Our research then examines in detail the extent to which, and how, ECOWAS norms and mechanisms on conflict prevention, crisis response and security sector reform were significant and influential in ECOWAS’ responses to the crises and conflicts in Cote D’Ivoire, Mali and to a lesser extent in Gambia since 2003; and also how these crises were in turn influential in the further development of ECOWAS norms in these areas. We demonstrate numerous weaknesses in the implementation and effectiveness in these norms; and limitations in their diffusion and influence. However, we argue that such weaknesses and limitations are typical of regional peace and security norms everywhere, including much more stable and developed regions. Equally significant is that substantial coalitions exist between ECOWAS member states and stakeholders. Despite obvious tensions, ECOWAS, AU, UN and other countries such as France continue to work to address inherent tensions and develop mutually beneficial collaborations that enhance effective conflict prevention in the sub-region. The study draws on the knowledge created within this this thesis to propose a framework for conflict intervention. / Allan & Nesta Foundation

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The emergence of regional security organisations during the 1990s in Africa proved to be of great significance for the lives of many Africans, including those living in conflict-torn countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire or the Democratic Republic of Congo, but, at the same time, this phenomenon has been understudied. This dissertation explores why regional security organisations with an agenda of democratic governance emerged in Africa in the 1990s. This question is answered with two in-depth case studies on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Driven by an empirical puzzle, this study is both hypothesis-testing and hypothesis generating. The study starts by laying out the different possible factors put forward by several bodies of theory in international relations to explain the emergence of ECOWAS and SADC as security organisations. These hypotheses are then tested throughout the history and the evolution of ECOWAS and SADC in order to highlight the circumstances of their creation and their qualified failure as economic communities. This is followed by a comparative analysis of the security and democracy mandates entrusted to ECOWAS and SADC by its member states based on the study of the legal texts that outline the specific objectives of each regional security organisation and the tools they were given to implement their mandates. The study finally analyses the implementation records of ECOWAS and SADC in order to assess the commitment of their member states to their new democracy and security mandate. The research concludes with the two following hypotheses: 1) A security agenda cannot emerge without the involvement of the regional hegemon. 2) What the regional hegemon can do, including affecting the speed of the transformation, is constrained by the acceptance of its leadership by its neighbours (legitimacy) and by state weakness (capability).