This article reviews the relationship between international organizations and peace, particularly the meaning of the UN system to the construction of peace. The UN was established as a constitutionalization of the world, with the Security Council as power holder for the maintenance of international peace and security. While this innovative scheme was frustrated with the advent of the Cold W ar, another aspect of the UN grew, which was essentially functionalistic, with an increasing number of specialized agencies and other organizations for operational activities. Thus the UN system started with constitutionalism and grew into one embodying functionalism, which is not identical with the EC/EU type of functionalism, in the sense that that former has not aimed at political integration.

In the meantime, this functionalism à la UN, while successful in its own way, seems to have reached its limits in that it appears incapable of bringing about negative peace. It is why there has appeared a trend, at least in Europe, to revive constitutionalism per se under the heading of international constitutionalism. It ranges from protests against unilateralism to constituting a world state which supersedes the sovereignty of states.

On the other hand, another possibility is emerging of turning functionalism into something qualitatively different, that is, functionalism relying on the potentiality of the civil society rather than solely depending on the cooperation between states. In view of the growing empowerment of the global civil society, this may engender a new type of functionalism which, in tandem with a moderate type of constitutionalism without an idea of world state, could possibly contribute to the formation of a world order.

Order is, according to Dieter Senghaas, something that has historically been formed step by step against the egocentric will of each member of any society. The authors of world order have to be ready to accept this complicated process which never pleases everybody.

As disarmament is one of the several critical measures to maintain and strengthen international peace and security, this article analyzes the role of international organizations in disarmament.

In this article, I deal with international organizations in a wider sense, including continuous international conferences such as the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the NPT Review Conference and international non -governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Abolition 2000, World Court Project (WCP) and International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), in addition to traditional international organizations.

As traditional international organizations I deal with the United Nations (UN), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Organization Prohibiting Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and other organizations relating to nuclear-weapon-free zones.

The process of disarmament can be divided into the following six stages; i) research or agenda -setting, ii) deliberation or non -binding agreement, iii) negotiation and elaboration of a treaty, iv) implementation of a treaty, v) verification of a treaty, and vi) reaction to violation. The article analyzes which international organization plays which stage of activities in the disarmament process.

After this examination, I propose i) to strengthen the function of the United Nations in the field of disarmament, ii) to revive the function of the Conference on Disarmament by changing rules, iii) to use Ottawa Process more frequently in other areas of disarmament, iv) to strengthen the review process of the NPT Review Conferences to promote not only nuclear non -proliferation but also nuclear disarmament, and v) to make use of international NGOs or civil societies more extensively which have been playing a significant role in disarmament. The Role and Limits of the International Criminal Justice Sys tem in establishing the “Rule of Law”in Post-Conflict Soci eties : Cooperation between the ICTY and the War Crimes Chamber in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Following the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993, remarkable developments have been made in the evolution of a system of international criminal justice. These developments indicate that the international community widely shares the rule of law concept in that impunity of heinous international crimes is no longer permissible.

The evolution of the international criminal justice system, however, does not always coincide with the advancement of the rule of law within post-conflict societies. Whereas the international criminal justice system aims at punishing a handful of leaders who are responsible for orchestrating the atrocious regimes, it has done little to fill the impunity gap where many middle and low level perpetrators remain unpunished. On the other hand the domestic criminal judicial system in post-conflict societies often lacks capacity or will to address this problem on its own.

Against this backdrop this paper examines the cooperation scheme between the ICTY and the War Crimes Chamber in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2005. The cooperation was initially prompted in a limited context of the ICTY whose term will have to end in 2010. It has revealed, however, a much broader role of the international criminal justice institution in advancing the rule of law in post-conflict societies. The capacity of the international institution in collecting evidence from all parties of the armed conflict and the transfer of expertise in prosecuting international crimes from the international institution to the domestic criminal justice institution are particularly relevant to this end. It also provides a hint for the application of the “principle of complementarity”in the International Criminal Court.

The World Bank and the UNDP have been engaging in peacebuilding activities for a long time. The World Bank has tried to remove physical obstacles such as land-mines, and socio-economic impediments such as large scale unemployment in post-conflict societies, as well as treat psychological problems involving war memories. The UNDP, in cooperation with the UN peacekeeping operations, has also provided various forms of technical assistance. Security sector reform is the new area of which international aid agencies have begun to stress peace-building. The UN and UNDP have engaged in reforming police organizations and military organizations. Those agencies have tried to set up the establishment of civilian control over the military in many post-conflict countries. Whether or not aid for security sector reform should be counted as Official Development Assistance (ODA) still remains controversial. When it is regarded as ODA, it is said that the economic assistance component of ODA is likely to be decreased.

Assistance for state-building has also been vigorously pursued. Assistance for the vulnerable states has been a particular emphasis. International aid agencies have had to adopt a comprehensive approach to cope with this problem because state-building activities include the problems of the political system, administrative governance, and social and economic structures. The Global M onitoring Report written by the World Bank argues that the gender imbalance and the existence of vulnerable states constitute the major obstacles to economic growth, sustainable development and equitable distribution.

It is difficult to apply traditional methods to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the activities for peace building and state building. M illennium Development Goals (M DGs) were set up as the targets, and effectiveness and efficiency of the projects are evaluated in reference to MDGs. However, too much emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency would likely cause a decrease in aid to vulnerable states. Preventing conflict is also important for international aid agencies. For example the OECD argues that participatory development would contribute to conflict prevention because participatory development is likely to produce communities which would work for conflict prevention. The World Bank Inspection Panel also serves to prevent the occurrence of major conflicts in advance.

This article examines the politics of the dominant narrative of international human rights law. It portrays the genealogy of the international human rights which, originally initiated as a response to the horrors of the West, in fact serves as a critical tool to pursue the modern form of the “civilizing mission”. The legal/positivist approach employed by mainstream scholars and policymaking elites effectively helps mask the underlying premises of the ever-growing global regime for the protection of human rights. A whole panoply of international bodies established under the regime carves the unfailing legitimacy in otherwise heavily politicized human rights endeavors. The United Nations has played a key role in constructing and preserving the global order hegemonized by the West.

As a human rights lawyer, I have no intention whatsoever to take issues with an idea that the protection of human rights is a prerequisite for global peace. Not a small hope is pinned on the workings of human rights bodies. My view, however, is that the dynamic potentiality for social reform impregnated in international human rights may not be materialized without critiquing the politics of truth so as to expose the interests maintained by the re/production of knowledge in contemporary human rights academy and practice. What counts is not unconditionally advancing faith in the regime: it should be to sincerely suspect that there is no guarantee that human rights necessarily conveys universal good.

The article proposes as an alternative a narrative away from a “gossip”(telling each other about “them”without listening to what “they”have to say), but based on a dialogue. It also proposes the deeliticization of the narrative, learning from newly emerging social movements which have been pushed aside to the invisible periphery of the dominant international human rights discourse.

Existence of NGOs at the United Nations has nowadays become more obscure than ever. The pattern of their participation in governmental negotiations has changed so frequently that it’s almost difficult to discern whether it’s going forward or backward. Great contributions of NGOs at UN -sponsored world conferences in the 1990s made the Secretary-General say, “NGOs, which represent the people, guarantee the legitimacy of the UN.”A “Decade of Civil Society”was almost promised for the 21st century.

But today world conferences are not organized because of US opposition, with the threat of further delaying in paying its mandatory contributions. And NGOs are thus deprived of their best chances in engaging in global issues. Instead, General Assembly special sessions or informal interactive hearings are convened. NGOs complain that they cannot exert as much impact as before due to the limit in the number of participating NGOs and opportunities for their speeches.

Another problem closely connected is emerging private sector. In post -Cold War paradigm of the UN, transnational corporations, once so criticized for violating international human rights norms in such cases as apartheid, are now rather regarded as partner for the UN and treated equally with NGOs.

In conclusion, the pattern and level of NGO participation is decided by world political situations and M ember States’attitudes toward NGOs, resulting in “one step forward, two steps backward”. The future depends on the ongoing Security Council reform which all M ember States puts on the top agenda.

After the end of the Cold War, international organizations, including the United Nations (UN), provided a number of peace operations around the world. Democratization has been a major component in many peace operations. This article examines democratization assistance in UN peace operations, looking at the recent literature on democratization and democratization assistance.

The recent literature on democratization and democratization assistance indicates that the international society needs to consider the points below to effectively assist democratization. First, there need to be appropriate standards and mechanisms to assess democratization. Second, the international society should provide inclusive democratization assistance in terms of both areas and means, including reactions against the cases of suspension, stagnation and reversal of democratization. Third, democratization assistance should be on a long-term basis. Finally, an international actor involved in democratization assistance needs to secure the international legitimacy.

Next, this article considers the current situation and issues of democratization assistance in UN peace operations along the points above. First, the UN still does not have any common standard or mechanism to assess democratization in peace operations. Second, the UN tends to overemphasize implementing elections as seen in the past peace operations, rather than providing inclusive assistance in various areas through various types of means, matched with the needs.

Third, it cannot be said that the UN has kept providing sufficient democratization assistance after the end of the peacekeeping operation on a long -term basis. Finally, conflicts of interests among member states, a difference between the UN and a recipient country over the priority and content of democratization assistance, and member states’ concerns about UN’s democratization assistance itself obstruct constructing its legitimacy

In conclusion, the UN needs to develop the system for democratization assistance itself. Developing UN’s democratization assistance system itself will lead to effective democratization assistance in its peace operations.

This paper’s purposes are i) to arrange military-related environmental problems (M REPs), ii) to demonstrate an identity of M REPs, iii) to reveal the importance that we consider about military national security from a view of environmental preservation.

MREPs in peacetime have below particularities in comparison with M REPs in wartime; i) dairy severe damages are caused, ii) victims are people around military bases. Victims of M REPs in peacetime are people that should be secured by military national security policy. This thing is to be strong criticism against military national security policy that demands much expense and swells itself unlimitedly. Considering the above, we realize that it is very important how we tackle M REPs in peacetime to resolve M REPs through disarmament. In this paper I take up Yokota Air Base noise pollution lawsuit as a concrete effort.

The most important point that is demonstrated through Yokota Air Base noise pollution lawsuit is that military activities that invade human rights and environment around military bases don’t have permitted.Today as a result of movements even military activities must have been restricted from a view of human rights and environmental preservation. It has been impossible to push through the conventional security concept that military activities must precede the all other things.

Many natural disasters, a collapse of ecosystem and an exhaustion of natural resources threaten human security. However military national security doesn’t deal with these problems. On the contrary by MREPs that include aviation noise pollution military activities destruct environment drastically. Insofar as we consider the present condition like these, conventional military national security that arose in the Cold War era must be restructured from a view of environmental preservation today. Environmental human security must be replaced with conventional security.