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Paper Abstract: Changing roles, challenges & opportunities after break-up of Soviet Union, focusing on European conflicts. Paper Introduction: The United Nations faces a new power structure in the world with the breakup of the Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc. This provides a new opportunity to reconstitute the UN so that it more clearly fulfills the original purpose of the United Nations, which was to avoid conflict or to settle it without force. The new paradigm may be bolstering international law and arbitration in order to judge the actions of nations according to ethical standards. After World War I, many of the nations of the world tried to address one of the issues that had interested idealists for some time--the creation of some means for international adjudication as a way of authoritatively and peacefully settling international disputes. One of the institutions that emerged from this war was the League of Nations, a forerunner of the United Nations but Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. In a straight fight along classical lines between regular armies, those with Western training, equipment, support, and doctrine should win.[ix] The role of the United States should be noted because it is a role intransition. It may beimpossible for the United Nations to avoid entirely its own role as worldpoliceman and to avoid entirely the use of military power to enforceethical standards, but the attempt must be made to reduce aggression and toprovide a peaceful means for settling disputes. Their success or failurein this effort will certainly have an impact on the fortunes of WesternEurope.[v] Unfortunately, the United Nations has so far proved to be ineffectivein dealing with eitehr peace or war, and its effort to secure peace inBosnia in partiuclar has been a dismal failure. resolutions makes all the difference to domestic and international support, that losses can be kept low in military operations with overwhelming superiority, and that a decisive battlefield success allows for an early departure. The cost of transition isproving high, though, as most of Eastern Europe is suffering from slump,with rapidly rising unemployment, high inflation, and a collapse of marketsin the now-disbanded Comecon trading block. Many believe that the success or failure of post-Communist Europe's transition to multiparty democracy and market economicswill determine whether the European order that takes shape will mirror thevision of 1992 or produce a quagmire of national fragmentation and ethnicconflict. It appears that the changes that have taken placein Eastern Europe are altering forever the Europe that originally set outon the road to economic integration, facing as they do a radically changedpolitical economy. The United Nations is unwilling to undertake decisive air action against the Serbs because the peacekeepers are vulnerable to Serb ground attack. Massive immigrationfrom North Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union may threaten thehealth and stability of European societies during this era as well. Europe faces a new politicsas new regimes have come to power across Eastern Europe, most with at leasta superficial commitment to democracy. In the present climate, the UN is not using forceless but more as it takes on the role of protector for aid delivries andcivilians. The securitysystem in Europe was unjust but stable, and both policies and budgets weregeared to fighting off any Soviet threat, real or implied. "War and Peace: The Ominous Trends Around the World." Maclean's (January 9, 1995), 19-21.Janis, Mark W., An Introduction to International Law. The West is having difficultypicking a side to support and is clearly failing to serve as a mediatinginfluence at any level. The security threats Europe willface during the coming period are not susceptible to Western militaryremedies. It is fraught with uncertainties and is a volatilesituation that seems to change daily. What has followed has been aseries of vague plans, instant disagreements, and confusion. . The new order was not like traditional concpets ofcollective security, and instead it was to be concerned with the securityof groups and individuals as well as states. The Warsaw pact has dissolved, leaving the countries of EasternEurope trying to provide for their own internal security, which may becomea desire to satisfy regional foreign policy objectives. This presents a challenge not onlyto the East European countries involved but to the countries of WesternEurope as well. The warin the Baltic region is the single greatest immediate threat to the post-Cold War era in Europe. There will likely be violence among the new democracies ofCentral and Eastern Europe (as indeed there has been). This court would collapse alongwith the League of Nations in 1945, but a more or less identical tribunal,the International Court of Justice, would replace it as the judicial branchof the new United Nations. The use offorce by UN troops tends to maek those troops seem like part of theconlfict, and this reduces the effectiveness of the UN in negotiating anypeaceful settlement between the actual parties involved.[vi] Analysts note that UN peacekeeping efforts in places like Bosnia havebeen costly and doomed to failure: The presence of UN peacekeepers in Bosnia promotes the war. And the partial shield provided by the peacekeepers encourages the Bosnian government to persist in hopeless attempts to regain lost territory. There is a new power structure in Europe asGermany, Turkey, and Ukraine emerge as countries with greatly enhancedinfluence in post-Soviet Europe. "Europe's Security: A Great Confusion." International Affairs, 67(1)(1991), 127-137.-----------------------Mark W. The Persian Gulfreminded Europeans that military power is still important in the world andthat the United States has such power. Schopflin, "Post-Communism: Constructing New Democracies inCentral Europe," International Affairs (April 1991), 235-25 .R.A. This also means,tough, that there is unlikely to be a "peace dividend" for post-CommunistEurope, and fear of national and ethnic regional conflict may not allowpost-Communist leaders to reduce their armed forces or to redirect the flowof resources to civil society. As a result, Western leaders self-consciously began amending traditional ideas of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs. The first was the question of how statescould be encouraged or compelled to submit their conflicts to judges forsettlement; the second was how international judicial decisions, oncerendered, could be effectively enforced.[i] The end of the Soviet system has produced massive changes in Europe.Europe now has new countries: a number of new countries has appeared outof the old Soviet Union; the two Germanies have become one; andCzechoslovakia and Yugoslavia have separated. Unfortunately, the shift has alsobrought about a new European disorder. the Gulf war experience suggested that the legitimacy provided by U.N. Walker, "Avoiding Risk and Responsibility: The United Statesand Eastern Europe," Current History (November 1992), 364-368.----------------------- 1 After World War I, many of the nations of the world tried to addressone of the issues that had interested idealists for some time--the creationof some means for international adjudication as a way of authoritativelyand peacefully settling international disputes. Zielonka, "Europe's Security: A Great Confusion,"International Affairs, 67(1)(1991), 127-137.G. The United Nations faces a new power structure in the world with thebreakup of the Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc. It was thensuggested that the United Nations was no longer paralyzed as a collectivesecurity organization and that great powers could take on medium powers onbehalf of small powers. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988.Mouat, Lucia. UN peacekeepers won theNobel peace Prize in 1988 and have been seen as the stongest asset of theUnited Nations, but their continued existence has been questioned in recentyears. "Why the West Failed." Foreign Policy (Winter 1994), 53-69.Homer-Dixon, Thomas. . The tools for offering assistance will be primarilypolitical and economic, not military. "Post-Communism: Constructing New Democracies in Central Europe." International Affairs (April 1991), 235-25 .Walker, J. These new democracies have not been in existencelong enough for us to analyze them or assess their viability over time, butit seems evident that the task of building new systems will be a long andarduous one. For decades, the Soviet Union was the primary enemy ofthe West, and the idea was prevalent that if the West could overcome theSoviet threat, the world would be a safer and more peaceful andeconomically successful place. There are many specific questions facing these emergingdemocracies, including the role of different classes in society, theeconomic system and how to make it work, what sorts of political partieswill develop or should be allowed, and so on, and it also seems clear thatit will boost the security stability of Western Europe to assist in thedevelopment of liberal democratic states and strong capitalist economies inthese countries.[iv] The same is true of the emerging states of what was formerly theSoviet Union, but the need there is different at the present time. Unfortunately, the ambition to expand traditional concepts of collective security clashed with an equally strong tendency, based on bitter memories, to avoid external interference in internal wars. Janis, An Introduction to International Law (Boston:Little, Brown and Company, 1988), 91."The Post-Soviet World: The Resumption of History," TheEconomist (December 26, 1992), 67-68.J. One of the institutionsthat emerged from this war was the League of Nations, a forerunner of theUnited Nations but with little authority or power and destined to fail asan arbiter of international matters. The disintegration of the Sovietempire also meant the disappearance of the post-Second-World-War orderarranged at Yalta and Potsdam, to be replaced by a plethora ofuncertainties.[ii] The post-Soviet climate is thus not as peaceful or progressive asmany might hope. "Avoiding Risk and Responsibility: The United States and Eastern Europe." Current History (November 1992), 364-368.Zielonka, J. The Americans, British and French are involved in an endless, disgraceful squabble over the utility of the peacekeepers, the value of air attacks and the advisability of lifting the arms embargo against the Bosnian government. Two propositions in particular came from the Vietnam War: First, external support for a client government that could not otherwise survive would become an indefinite commitment; second, public opinion would only support engagement in nonessential wars if casualties were kept to a minimum.[viii]The Gulf War would become the example by which future actions would bejudged, for it was deemed a success and a success acheived by concertedinternational effort: . Remington, "Eastern Europe after the Revolutions," CurrentHistory (November 1991), 379-383.Lucia Mouat, "Peacekeeping Fatigue Sets In as Risks Rise for UNTroops," Christian Science Monitor (January 4, 1995), 1, 6.Thomas Homer-Dixon, "War and Peace: The Ominous Trends Aroundthe World," Maclean's (January 9, 1995), 2 .Lawrence Freedman, "Why the West Failed," Foreign Policy (Winter1994), 55.Ibid., 55-56.J. In many places, though, nationalismis rampant and is also on the rise in some West European countries, partlyin response to the growing numbers of refugees from the ex-communist East.Europe faces a new economics as the post-communist governments in EasternEurope are all replacing central planning with the market as the biggestprivatization drive in history is under way. Essentially, America must come torely more on political and economic solutions with both Europes.[x] The United Nations can be a significant tool for creating aninternational consensus on ethical behavior to be followed by all nations.Organs such as the International Court of Justice can serve an importantrole in this effort as well. There is a need for the United States to find a new basis forits role in Europe. The new paradigm may be bolstering internationallaw and arbitration in order to judge the actions of nations according toethical standards. It will simply not do to have unstable countries borderingthe European community, either politically or economically unstable, andstable democracies can be important allies and valuable trading partners inthe future of Europe. In the past, lightly armed UN troops entereda conflict only wity the consent of all parties, and weapons were only tobe used for self-defense. TheUnited States needs to take careful consideration of her role in copingwith the changes in Eastern Europe and in developing democratic, capitalistsocieties there. What the Westnow has to face is the need to find a new policy that will still providefor European security and that will also provide the stability that isrequired.[iii] Another element in the changes facing Europe is the fact that thenewly independent states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union andtheir attempts to become democratic and to achieve a strong and stableeconomic system to supplant Communism. "Eastern Europe after the Revolutions." Current History (November 1991), 379-383.Schopflin, G. The reality has been somewhat different.The disintegration of the Soviet empire has naturally created a sense ofeuphoria in the West, but it has also contributed to the development of agood deal of confusion and uncertainty. The United Nations may be in a good positionto accomplish this task at this time because of the void left by thedisintegration of the Soviets and the desire on the part of the UnitedStates to withdraw more from its role as the world's policeman. Even then, two of history's fundamentalproblems in law would remain. The eastern slump is hurtingWestern Europe as well. "Peacekeeping Fatigue Sets In as Risks Rise for UN Troops." Christian Science Monitor (January 4, 1995), 1, 6."The Post-Soviet World: The Resumption of History," The Economist (December 26, 1992), 67-68.Remington, R.A. Endnotes BibliographyFreedman, Lawrence. This provides a newopportunity to reconstitute the UN so that it more clearly fulfills theoriginal purpose of the United Nations, which was to avoid conflict or tosettle it without force. There were various precedents forinternational arbitration even at that time, though, and among the otherinstitutions that emerged, based on such precedents, was history's firstpermanent international law court, the Permanent Court of InternationalJustice, as part of the League of Nations. Policies change from one week to the next.[vii]Yet this was not the pattern that was expected after the Cold War ended,and at the beginning of this decade that was consideable optimism beacuseit was hoped that international institutions and norms could eventuallyprevent, contain, and resolve all manner of conflicts. It was discovered after the end of the Cold War that the UN couldplay a more active role in containing conflicts, but member states thenstarted asking whether the UN sould play such a role, Demands for UNintervention have increased. The "safe havens" project waslaunched in the spring of 1991 to protect Kurds fleeing from SaddamHussein, adn this effort seemed to confirm the need to protect aid workersand civilian UN personnel caught up in conflicts and to provide beleagueredpopulations with a degree of security. This more assertive military stance has not worked well, as canbe seen by the experiences in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia. Indeed, the example of what is happening inthe former Yugoslavia makes it all the more likely that these leaders willretain their sizable standing armies for the foreseeable future. In anycase, they face the need for a massive change in thinking on the part ofleaders and people alike as they try to provide for the economic securitythey need by introducing new economic behavior. Europe is experiencing a waning need for Americanmilitary protection, given the reduced threat from the East, and this factwill likely reduce the source of American influence. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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