CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DAREN BOWYER JUST WAR DOCTRINE

nationalist regime. Had the Soviet ambassador been present there is no doubt that the
veto would have been used. Arguably there was a second instance of UN use of force in
the establishment of the UN operation in the Congo 1960-64 (UNSCR 143 (1960)).
However, the wording of the Resolutions and the limiting of the UN force to use of
force only in self defence, is such as to make this much more akin to a traditional peace-
keeping mission. Resolution 146, for example, ‘reaffirms that the United Nations
Force will not be a party to or in any way intervene in or be used to influence the
outcome of any internal conflict, constitutional or otherwise.’ 23
In effect then, the paradigm was held in abeyance by the particular circumstances of the
Cold War. With the ending of the Superpower stand-off which that represented came a
renewed optimism and expectation for the effectiveness of the organization together
with a series of international crises that for the first time was really to test the validity of
the paradigm – and in many respects to find it wanting. Linda Melvern 24 notes that the
United Nations Security Council meeting in January 1992 had marked a turning point in
history. As the first meeting of the Council held at head of state level it had captured
the spirit of the age. The Council had met the challenge of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
and it seemed that at last the United Nations might realize the goals set by its founders
in 1945.
Max Boot takes a similar line: ‘With the end of the Cold War, the U.S.-Soviet rivalry
that had paralyzed the Security Council had become a thing of the past, supposedly
freeing the U.N. to become more assertive.’ 25 The same sentiments are echoed by Mats
Berdal 26 :
The great illusion of the late 1980s and early 1990s was that the end of the Cold
War would automatically translate into an ‘effective’ UN. It was an illusion that
rested on the belief that the Security Council, after years of paralysis, would
‘finally’ be allowed to assume its ‘primary responsibility for the maintenance of
international peace and security.’
All three commentators point out two issues: that the Cold War rendered the Security
Council impotent, and thereby nullified the UN’s role in maintaining international peace
72