The question of the legality and/or legitimacy of the use of force in international affairs has caused a debate within the transatlantic community, and therefore, within the United Nations as well. The author argues that the concept of ‘just war’, which has to originate both from a just cause and a just conduct, is shaken by the new threats, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, that change the established rules : there are no more interstate conflicts but internal ones, no more (...)  lire suite

The question of the legality and/or legitimacy of the use of force in international affairs has caused a debate within the transatlantic community, and therefore, within the United Nations as well. The author argues that the concept of ‘just war’, which has to originate both from a just cause and a just conduct, is shaken by the new threats, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, that change the established rules : there are no more interstate conflicts but internal ones, no more (...)  lire suite

International corruption has become a normal means of conquering public exportation markets. At the same time, transnational firms, whose power is everincreasing, begin to compete with the sovereignty of States. The latter can not always afford to establish a really multilateral strategy, which would be the only solution to hinder, if not reduce, international corruption. Moreover, we have to admit that an efficient fight at the international level would be a serious imbalance factor, to (...)  lire suite

The evolution of the terrorist threat - from the development of Al Qaïda to the risk of binding ties with certain rogue States - requires coordinated action by the international community. In this collective fight, the UN Security Council has a fundamental role to play. For the past 15 years, the United Nations have made of the fight against terrorism one of their major preoccupations. From the policy of economic sanctions, used during the 1990s, to resolutions 1368 and 1373, passed after (...)  lire suite

This paper, drawing on the thinking of H. Lauterpacht, an international jurist in the first half of the 20th century, attempts to go beyond the traditional rift in international relations between idealists and realists ; it also endeavours to determine which elements, in the jurist’s works, can be selected in order to think out the international community. As the author places her reflection within the scope of Kant’s thinking, she brings out an intermediary solution to the dilemmas of the (...)  lire suite

Confronted with the conflictive nature of international relations, the contemporary establishment of peacekeeping law rests on a necessary selection of values : either primacy is granted to the State uti singuli, either a common interest, expressed in the idea if an international community, is defended. From the war doctrine to the United Nations system, positive peacekeeping law has evolved a lot, especially in the aftermath of cataclysms, such as the two World Wars. We are currently (...)  lire suite

Reforming the Security Council is a current theme, concerning its composition, as well as the threats it has to face, and its action capacities. Yet, even in the current condition of the Charter, it remains an unrivalled source of international legality and legitimacy. The Council may be, following situation and the support brought by member States, an architect or an instrument. It possesses a normative ad operational flexibility allowing it to adjust to all challenges. Three levels of (...)  lire suite

Considering that conflicts and crises irrupting within a State posed threats to international peace and security, the Security Council has progressively been brought to intervene in increasing number of crisis situations, especially starting from the 1990s. Yet, faced with these conflicts, the reunion of certain intervention criteria is not enough to provoke the seizing of the Security Council : each situation is assessed individually. The pragmatic approach also prevails when dealing with (...)  lire suite

The finality of this paper is not to analyse the principle of political responsibility in all of is dimensions. To opt for such a perspective would require developments that would go beyond the context of this work. This is why the author of this paper preferred to try and shed light not on the use or the praxis of political responsibility as it is conceived today, as it belongs to specific philosophies of action, that answer to contradictory power logics, but on the intellectual and (...)  lire suite

Presupposing the concept of discourse (factitiveness, interactivity, contextuality and intertextuality), the diplomatic discourse is analysed in its specificity, that is as a set of structures and procedures, being its « diplomaticity ». Two specific features are identified as necessary and relevant, namely its ambiguity and obliqueness. Ambiguity is what conditions any diplomatic manoeuvre ; obliqueness is the way it operates. They both function on the semantic and pragmatic level. Two (...)  lire suite