This thesis explores how UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security and its ensuing National Action Plans for gender equality inform justifications of international intervention. I ask the following questions: how does Resolution 1325 and its ensuing National Action Plans for gender equality construct subjectivities of gender? How have states appropriated these gendered subjectivities in the legitimation of conflict? I review feminist, postcolonial, and poststructuralist literatures to argue that Resolution 1325 is aligned with broader United Nations governmental strategies for framing and justifying international intervention. Resolution 1325 produces dualistic subjectivities of gender, where women are constructed either as victims or as empowered, albeit within the limits deemed acceptable in masculinized contexts. I analyze the case of German National Action Plans for gender equality and the official policy texts related to its intervention in Afghanistan. I demonstrate that the foreign policy of a seemingly progressive state embraces Resolution 1325's dualistic subjectifications of women in conflict to construct logics that legitimize the Afghan intervention. My study findings show that Germany discursively constructs women and gender equality in accordance with the UN's guidelines and its good governance framework, which do not challenge existing structures of masculinity. In addition, they function as a means through which Germany legitimizes neoliberal and neocolonial policies as acceptable, ultimately failing to challenge the international war system. / Master of Arts / This thesis analyzes UN Security Council Resolution 1325's influence on the development of German gender equality policy and German foreign policy towards intervention in Afghanistan. I ask how the visions of gender produced in Resolution 1325, which primarily frame women as victims or only as empowered, inform the approach of Germany to Afghanistan. I find that German gender equality policy and policy towards Afghanistan are heavily influenced by the UN's framing of gender, as these ideas allow for Germany to justify its role in Afghanistan as a means to empower women further or save them from victimization. This allows Germany to maintain its role as a progressive humanitarian state by aligning its justification for the mission with the UN's broad objectives. However, doing so sets a dangerous precedent by legitimating intervention so long as it fits within the confines of the UN's notion of acceptability. Ultimately, my work shows that gender and attention to women functions to "clean" the German intervention in Afghanistan and portray it as progressive in accordance with the UN's values despite the inherent militarism of the intervention.

The United Nations currently adopts media policies for peacekeeping missions on an ad-hoc basis, often relying on US or NATO rules. Some have suggested that a standardized media policy for all peacekeeping missions should be the norm. This project examines that proposition with an eye to the tension between the right to know and operational security. Looking at UN intervention in the Gulf War, Somalia, and Rwanda, the problems with such a rigid media policy appear significant. Instead, a dual-level approach is advocated, allowing broad principles of independent coverage as well as in-country negotiations to take place. / Master of Arts

The purpose of this study is to determine if the United Nations is structured in a manner that allows for it to effectively protect its principles while meeting the challenges emerging from the increasing number of security threats carried out by violent non-state actors. The United Nations, through the strategies of collective security and sovereign equality, aspires to have its member states prevent war through the peaceful settlement of disputes. This thesis argues that, by examining the legal norms that govern the methods in which member states are authorized to use force, the foundation and principles of the United Nations are to promote collective security through the avoidance of war. The United Nations' Charter only outlines a method for how sovereign states are to handle disputes with other states. The Charter fails to establish an effective method for states to respond to violence that originates from a non-state source. States therefore have elected to respond to aggression by non-state actors in terms that are not in accordance with the United Nations' Charter. This thesis therefore argues that any member state that chooses to use force against another state, specifically due to that state being the perceived origin of violent non-state aggression, without the approval of the United Nations Security Council, is doing so illegally and undermining the integrity of the organization. Since the United Nations' Charter fails to make provisions for the use of force against violence by non-state on state actors, it would seem wise for the United Nations to update its Charter to reflect a more efficient method for states to respond to non-state aggression. Unless the United Nations modernizes to respond to this tactic and outlines a strict method for states to respond to these situations, the United Nations will grow increasingly irrelevant. The thesis is organized into four main parts. The introduction describes the legal foundation of the United Nations and argues that its integrity is based upon the concept of collective security. This examination will explore the historical growth of collective security through the successes and failures of organizations who have previously employed its principles. This section will go into detail on the main principles of the United Nations Charter, specifically when the use of force is permissible by the organization. The first chapter offers a historical examination into the growth of non-state actors and the terrorist tactics they have employed. Terrorism is a tactic that aspires to disrupt society through the threat or usage of violence. This tactic typically uses or threatens to use violence in an attempt to gain footage in political, economic, religious or social issues. This analysis will offer evidence into the effectiveness of this tactic for inflicting civilian casualties and disrupting the peace of states. The second chapter is an analysis of how the United Nations has evolved to address the global growth of terrorism. This analysis will be supported by the legal documentation that the United Nations has passed to address terrorism. The main method in which the United Nations has employed to suppress terrorism is sanctions. This section will detail cases where the United Nations has used economic sanctions as a method to punish states that support terrorism. The third chapter of this thesis will offer an in-depth analysis of instances where, despite structures that the United Nations has in place to suppress terrorism, member states have determined that their state is not adequately protected from terrorism. In turn, these states have used force against another sovereign state without a Security Council mandate. By doing this, the member states have violated United Nations articles governing the use of force and the notion of collective security. The final section of this thesis will offer recommendations on necessary changes to the United Nations Charter regarding the use of force against violence by non-state on state actors. More efficient legal framework is necessary in the United Nations Charter to allow for states to capably and legally respond to the growth of terrorism. This thesis demonstrates that the current structure of the United Nations is incapable of controlling or responding to violent non-state actors. Additionally, with the mounting number of occurrences where a member state elects to use force against another sovereign state in response to terrorism, the core principles and purpose of the United Nations are becoming moot. This thesis will conclude by exploring possible reform within the United Nations by allowing for member states to legally and effectively respond to the terrorist activities of violent non-state actors. This reform would be achieved by outlining legal action allowed by a state when attacked or threatened with an attack by a non-state actor. / Master of Arts

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Many African states are currently struggling to acquire social and economic development. Unfortunately, there are a number of factors that are challenging that success. Among them are disease, public policy, and governance. However, international organizations are in place with the goal of meeting these challenges and helping to prompt development. One of the most visible and well known of those organizations is the United Nations. The focus of this study was the impact of three United Nations programs operating in African states. The first was a National Volunteer program operating in Ethiopia under the United Nations Development Program. Next was a Women Entrepreneur Training program in Tanzania guided by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Finally, there was a Refugee Livelihood program focusing on micro-credit under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The research shows the varying success of each program and the impact they are having on their countries of operation. Each program accomplished many, if not all, of its goals and it is reported that they are having a positive impact on the country as a whole. This thesis displays the various ways in which these programs can prompt the development of African states, and implies that future programs will continue to increase African development.

The United Nations Security Council is primarily responsible for maintenance of international peace and security according to the Charter of the United Nations. To achieve this goal, it is authorized to adopt resolutions binding on member states under Chapter VII of the Charter. Considering the character of situations to which the Security council responds through its Chapter VII resolutions, this legal instrument often stirs emotions among the general public. But what does the law itself say about the Chapter VII resolutions? What is their legal nature and value in the field of public international law? This thesis provides an analysis of the Chapter VII resolutions, offers a definition of a Chapter VII resolution and analyzes some specific resolutions by which the Security Council acted more as a quasi-judicial or a quasi-legislative body. Through analysis of content limits of the Security Council powers, the thesis endeavors to confirm that binding nature of the Chapter VII resolutions as well as an obligation of member states to give effect to those resolutions do have its boundaries; and despite the special role of the Security Council in the field of public international law, its Chapter VII resolutions cannot have unlimited content. First of all, the resolutions cannot be in conflict with...

Thesis advisor: Timothy W. Crawford / Following the devastation UN peacekeeping experienced in the 1990s, the United Nations Panel on Peace Operations wrote a report, known as the Brahimi Report, that contained twenty key recommendations as how to make peacekeeping more effective and efficient. These recommendations addressed certain fundamental flaws in peacekeeping practices and procedures. This paper discusses the purpose behind several key recommendations and examines the political and internal debate surrounding their implementation. It addresses the effect of the Brahimi Report on UN reform and concludes that the Brahimi Report has spurred a long needed examination of peacekeeping and has influenced progress in most areas, even though most of the actual suggestions of the Panel were not followed. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

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.

Climate change poses an unprecedented risk to global human security and future generations. Yet actions to mitigate or adapt to the changing climate system vary greatly among countries and their constituencies. Despite mounting evidence detailing the economic, social, and ecological risks of climate change, many scholars agree that the greatest threats associated with climate change involve delaying or ignoring necessary action. Using theorizing of “risk society” from Ulrich Beck and others, this thesis examines how countries, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and business interests construct the risk of climate change and how their respective discourses conflict in international environmental negotiations. This research uses computer-assisted qualitative data analysis to explore statements submitted by each of these constituencies to the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010. Analysis of these texts identifies climate change discourse as crisis or opportunity, in addition to discourses of development, environmentalism, and rights or responsibilities to provide us a better understanding of how we perceive and respond to ecological risk.

The occurrence of internal armed conflict in Africa has increased over the last two decades. As such, Africa continues to be viewed by many as a troubled continent. In an attempt to avoid further conflict in Africa, organisations such as the United Nations have implemented comprehensive tools and strategies to prevent further conflicts from occurring. However, the genocide in Rwanda and the on-going unrest in Sudan have shown that there is still a lot of work to be done. In both these cases, the conflicts took place or escalated even with UN presence on ground. This paper will thus examine the UN's legal role in the prevention of internal armed conflict and establish the type of lessons that could be learnt from Rwanda and Sudan. / Public, Constitutional, & International / LL.M.