The position of the European security architecture within the international legal order

White, Nigel D.

Abstract

With the universal architecture for peace and security centred upon the UN Charter of 1945 and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 being built on great power foundations, there are manifest problems when there is no consensus amongst those great powers in the face of existential threats to peace and security. The question considered in this article is whether the European Security Architecture (ESA), consisting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union (EU), can forge a different and distinct path that can provide security for States and individuals while remaining within the international rule of law. In contrast to the executive-dominated universal collective security system, power and authority in the ESA are much more diffuse, fluid and overlapping, with a mixture of foundational documents ranging from the constitutional/supranational (the EU), contractual (NATO) and political (the OSCE), as well as a range of overlapping competences, powers and practice in: peaceful settlement; the promotion of human rights and democracy; the enforcement of fundamental rules of international law by non-forcible measures; collective defence commitments; crisis management; and nuclear deterrence. The ESA, though less constitutional in a hierarchical sense when compared to the UN/NPT system, promises greater connection between security and law, but is it capable of deterring and confronting naked aggression and other egregious violations of international law?

Citation

White, N. D. (2023). The position of the European security architecture within the international legal order. Italian Yearbook of International Law Online, 32 (2022), 3-24

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 24, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 5, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 30, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 5, 2023
• Journal: Italian Yearbook of International Law
• Print ISSN: 0391-5107
• Electronic ISSN: 2211-6133
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32 (2022)
• Pages: 3-24
• Keywords: European Security Architecture; collective security; collective defence; international law; OSCE; NATO; EU
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/20000271
• Related Public URLs: https://brill.com/view/journals/iyio/iyio-overview.xml; https://brill.com/display/title/69751