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The UN’s highest court ruled in 2010 that Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia did not break international law. President Hisashi Owada of the International Court of Justice said international law contains no ”prohibition on declarations of independence” and therefore Kosovo’s declaration ”did not violate general international law.” Kosovo’s statehood had been recognized by all of the United States and most of the States of the EU.

Critically, the court’s ruling is nonbinding.  Hence China and Russia are under no obligation to recognize it, though as both states are members of the UN one might suppose that the UN’s ruling is binding on them as members of the UN. What sanctions, one might surmise, could the UN issue against its members that do not recognize the rulings of its court? Short of cancelling their memberships, what could the UN assess that it could enforce?  Perhaps the UN could effectively withhold their voting privilege in the UN while maintaining their membership (and fees).  I contend that such “teeth” is necessary if the UN is to be an honest broker concerning questions of declarations of independence such that war is obviated. In The Least Dangerous Branch, Alexander Bickel argues that the judiciary is the least dangerous branch because it does not have control of the purse or an army.  A court whose rulings are nonbinding is to render it nearly impotent—nearly because just being a court carries with it some legitimacy and thus influence. Even so, as an improvement on the alternative (i.e., war), the UN’s court needs something more binding. To tout an absolutist theory of sovereignty of the nation-state as an obstacle to recognizing the UN court as binding would be enervate a possible improvement of mankind with respect to conflict in international relations.  Particularly in an age in which mass  human destructiveness is possible, we can ill-afford a Bodinean theory of sovereignty. In spite of the dangers in continuing the status quo in international conflict resolution, we advance at a snail’s pace—particularly as compared to technological development. I contend that it is high time for political development in international relations. Yet for this to occur it seems that human nature itself—particularly, its intractability—would have to be overcome, which might render the original problem moot.  Even so, it is worth a try. We may be closer than we think to being able to give the UN’s highest court a bindingness sufficient to reduce the likelihood of war appreciably.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/07/22/world/europe/AP-EU-World-Court-Kosovo.html?_r=1

As I had suspected, Barak Obama’s 2010 speech at the UN’s annual opening lacked tangible proposals.  For example, he urged progress on the middle east peace talks, but proffered no proposal.  He said Africa could be prosperous agriculturally, but gave no proposal for how.  Also, he said corruption in governments of developing countries is a problem, but offered no solution.  Pointing to corruption in general diffuses responsibility so talking about it does not shame anyone into making hard choices.  In my view, more radical (i.e., systemic) changes are needed, but the politicians are too mainstream/moderate for that.For example, he could have urged African leaders to cede more governmental sovereignty to the African Union, which in turn could then act as a check on government corruption at the state level.  Also, Obama could have proposed a loose federal confederation for the middle east, which would mitigate the middle east conflict, or he could have given a proposal involving the borders of a possible Palestinian state (i.e., what to do with Jerusalem). Finally, the President could have gone beyond citing his efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation to announce that the US would join the ten countries that have created a movement with the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons completely—even from the present nuclear powers such as the US. Meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the 10 countries launched the new initiative to work towards a world without nuclear weapons. Foreign ministers, led by Japan and Australia, hoped to bring new life to efforts for nonproliferation and disarmament. Their mission statement said: “The only guarantee against the use and threat of nuclear weapons is their total elimination.” This would be real change.  In contrast, Obama said his goal is securing loose nuclear material around the world in four years.  This sort of goal shows that he is inside the box—an incrementalist rather than a leader.

I wish the President and his advisors had thought more to create new proposals and to think outside the box than simply putting a nice-sounding speech together. In short, in place of politics as usual, there could have been real change in the speech.  What good do platitudes do?

See: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6035871,00.html

EU member states have been thrashing out the details of the resolution to be presented to the UN in meetings in both Brussels and New York over the past few months in a bid to finalize a proposal which will lay out the details of the EU’s increased UN role which is intended to boost the bloc’s profile as an independent entity at international level. The draft reforms agreed by the EU member states – if approved – will give the EU the powers enjoyed by fully-fledged UN members, such as the right to make proposals and submit amendments, the right of reply, the right to raise points of order and the right to circulate documents. While there is no demand in the draft for a more prominent seating position for the EU, it is possible that the EU could be moved to the center of the UN’s assembly chamber. Wherever the EU is situated, additional seats alongside a new European UN ambassador will be made available for High Representative Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, and her staff. Experts believe that the creation of the EU role will not significantly enhance the bloc’s ability to influence policy at a UN level but will provide an opportunity to present the EU as a unified power on the international stage.