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Rules-based Order

The Charter International System Is In Deep Crisis

In 1945, humanity came together to create the Charter international system based on the United Nations. It expressed the hope that after the most catastrophic war the world had yet seen, a comprehensive set of normative principles and institutional practices would prevent another conflict of that magnitude from ever occurring again. By coming together on a set of shared principles, the hope was that a better system of international relations would emerge. The result was the UN and its foundational Charter, reinforced subsequently by numerous declarations, protocols and conventions.

What Is The Rules-Based Order?

The way that the wording rules-based order is bandied about makes it sound like it has worldwide acceptance and that it has been around for a long time. Yet it comes across as a word-of-the-moment, both idealistic and disingenuous. Didn’t people just use to say international law or refer to the International Court of Justice, Nuremberg Law, the UN Security Council, or the newer institution — the International Criminal Court? Moreover, the word rules is contentious. Some will skirt the rules, perhaps chortling the aphorism that rules are meant to be broken. Rules can be unjust, and shouldn’t these unjust rules be broken, or better yet, disposed of? Wouldn’t a more preferable wording refer to justice? And yes, granted that justice can be upset by miscarriages. Or how about a morality-based order?
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