The Application of the United Nations Collective Security System in Territorial Disputes LONG Bo A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) December 2018 Table of Contents Table of Contents...........................................................................................................1 Declaration of Authenticity…………………………………………………………..5 Author’s Note…………………………………………………………………………6 Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………….7 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….8 Table of Cases………………………………………………………………………..10 Table of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………12 Chapter 1 Introduction……………………………………………………………...16 1.1 The importance of territorial disputes in the context of international law…………17 1.2 The importance of the UNCSS in the context of territorial disputes………………20 1.3 The structure of the thesis…………………………………………………………23 Chapter 2 The research basis of the thesis………………………………………….27 2.1 The literature review of the thesis…………………………………………………28 2.1.1 Legal and international relations scholarship on territorial disputes…………….28 2.1.2 Legal and international relations scholarship on the UNCSS……………………35 2.1.3 The problems of the existing literature on the UNCSS and territorial disputes….43 2.2 The methodology of the thesis…………………………………………………….58 1 2.2.1 General philosophy……………………………………………………………..58 2.2.2 Specific methods………………………………………………………………..60 Chapter 3 The background of the application of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement…………………………………………………………………………….63 3.1 The nature of territorial disputes…………………………………………………..63 3.1.1 The concept of territorial disputes………………………………………………64 3.1.2 The characters of territorial disputes…………………………………………….79 3.2 The peaceful settlement of territorial disputes…………………………………….86 3.2.1 An overview of the various measures for the peaceful settlement of territorial disputes……………………………………………………………………………….87 3.2.2 The common disadvantages of the various measures for the peaceful settlement of territorial disputes…………………………………………………………………….97 Chapter 4 The framework of the application of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement………………………………………………………………...…………104 4.1 The essential issues governing the application of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement……………………………………………………………………………104 4.1.1 The authoritative institutions of the UNCSS under the pressure of territorial disputes……………………………………………………………………………...104 4.1.2 The operating mechanism of the UNCSS under the threat of territorial disputes……………………………………………………………………………...109 4.1.3 The predetermined purposes of the UNCSS under the influence of territorial 2 disputes……………………………………………………………………………...115 4.2 The surrounding issues accompanying the application of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement…………………………………………………………………..124 4.2.1 The intersection of the UNCSS and the peaceful measures in territorial disputes settlement……………………………………………………………………………124 4.2.2 The hierarchy between the UNCSS and the right of self-defence in territorial disputes settlement…………………………………………………………………..136 4.2.3 The inter-relationship between the UNCSS and the power of regional organizations in territorial disputes settlement………………………………………141 Chapter 5 The practice of the application of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement…………………………………………………………………………...149 5.1 The performance of the non-forcible measures of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement……………………………………………………………………………149 5.1.1 The theoretical role and practical records of the United Nations authorized diplomatic sanctions in territorial disputes settlement……………………………….149 5.1.2 The theoretical role and practical records of the United Nations authorized economic sanctions in territorial disputes settlement………………………………..160 5.1.3 The shared weaknesses of the non-forcible measures of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement: a case study of the United Nations authorized non-forcible sanctions against Ethiopia/Eritrea…………………………………………………...169 5.2 The performance of the forcible measures of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement……………………………………………………………………………186 3 5.2.1 The theoretical role and practical records of the United Nations authorized military enforcement actions in territorial disputes settlement………………………………..187 5.2.2 The theoretical role and practical records of the United Nations peacekeeping operations in territorial disputes settlement………………………………………….198 5.2.3 The shared weaknesses of the forcible measures of the UNCSS in territorial disputes settlement: a case study of the United Nations authorized forcible sanctions against Iraq…………………………………………………………………………..212 Chapter 6 The reform plan of the thesis…………………………………………...235 6.1 The thoughts on the reform of the UNCSS……………………………………….235 6.2 The suggestions on the reform of the UNCSS……………………………………243 6.3 The potential effect of the reform of the UNCSS: a case study of the application of the UNCSS in the Crimea Crisis……………………………………………………..250 Chapter 7 Conclusion………………………………………………………………263 7.1 The research findings of the thesis………………………………………………263 7.2 General summary………………………………………………………………..267 Reference…………………………………………………………………………...269 Articles………………………………………………………………………………269 Books………………………………………………………………………………..281 4 Declaration of Authenticity The author hereby confirms that this thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of another degree in another university. To the best of the knowledge of the author, this thesis also contains no material that has been previously published or written by another person. 5 Author’s Note ‘WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED……to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind……AND FOR THIS END, to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security’ -Charter of the United Nations, Preamble 6 Acknowledgement After more than 4 years of seemingly endless reading, thinking and writing, I can confirm that a PhD programme is nothing more than a ruthless test of the academic faith and the physical stamina of the corresponding PhD candidate. Over 30 years earlier when I was born, my father was preparing his PhD thesis, and it took him only minutes to think about my name, Bo, which exactly means ‘Doctorate’ in Chinese–now I totally know why he was in such a hurry. Besides, I would like to thank various people who have accompanied and assisted me during this tough journey of writing up a PhD thesis in Law. First of all, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my primary supervisor, Dr. James Summers, as I certainly could not complete this lengthy project without his invaluable supervision. In the second place, I would like to express my gratitude to my secondary supervisor, Prof. Steven Wheatley, and all the members of the School of Law of Lancaster University who have provided their enthusiastic help to me. In the third place, I also would like to express my gratitude to my former lecturers from either Wuhan University or Nottingham University, without whom I could not even acquire my previous degrees. Finally, I must warmly embrace my father, mother and girlfriend, who are Prof. Xingwu Long, Assoc. Prof. Hong Huang and Dr (can). Jia Jia, this thesis is dedicated to them. Lastly, with regard to my main achievement in the past four years, which is certainly the content of this thesis, I hereby declare that I have read and understood the regulations governing the submission of PhD thesis, including those relating to length and plagiarism, as contained in the Research Student Manual and that this thesis confirms to those regulations. LONG Bo School of Law, Lancaster University, November 2018 7 Abstract The thesis is an attempt to critique the operation of the UN collective security system, in particular in relation to territorial disputes. In the introduction, the author argues that territorial disputes are an important, common but dangerous type of international disputes which can be, and have been controversially intervened by the UNCSS. Accordingly, the author has found out that the interaction between territorial disputes and the UNCSS is worthy to be studied. In the First main chapter, the author has reviewed the past literatures on either the UNCSS or territorial disputes, and evaluated the traditional route of legal research. Accordingly, the author argues that his research perspective of jointly studying territorial disputes and the UNCSS by combining legal and political theories is rather original, as the existing literatures tend to focus on general studies from their own research fields. Meanwhile, the author also argues that the realistic philosophy and the qualitative library-based literary methods are rather suitable for the current research topic, as they can deviate from the set paradigm without becoming impracticable. In the second main chapter, the author has addressed the inherent nature and the peaceful settlement of territorial disputes. Accordingly, the author argues that the land-territory disputes among member states of the United Nations can be defined as the working objects of study of this thesis. Moreover, the author also argues that the characters of territorial disputes are unfavorable for their settlement, and the peaceful measures are overly affected by the will of the direct parties, thus the intervention of the UNCSS is necessary. In the third main chapter, the author has described the authoritative institutions,