Selective responsibility : history, power and politics in the United Nations

• Main Author: Harsant, Katy
• Published: University of Warwick 2016
• Subjects: 341.4; KZ Law of Nations
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.720468

This project explores the issue of selectivity within contemporary international politics, particularly in relation to the implementation of the United Nations’ Responsibility to Protect principle, from a postcolonial perspective. It argues that in order to fully understand the selective implementation of policy in contemporary contexts, it is necessary to examine the historical origins of the United Nations and to highlight the institutionalisation of postcolonial privilege in international political organisations. Through the use of archival data, it shows that the United Nations is an institution that has been committed to the perpetuation of colonial power structures through the development of new forms of government and structures of control, relying on problematic discourses of civilisation and progress that legitimate a global power structure that has its roots in colonialism. It begins with the provision of an alternative historical narrative that highlights the significance of colonialism in the founding of the United Nations and that seeks to undermine the discourse of equality that is frequently attributed to the organisation. It then moves on to explore more concrete examples of the structures of the United Nations that have allowed for the continuation of colonial power relations before examining these ideas in relation to the contemporary politics of intervention, particularly focusing on the role of the Security Council as the locus of postcolonial and neocolonial power.