Structural violence and the United Nations: how the Security Council shifts attitudes, expectations and presuppositions in the international community about the Persian Gulf, 1990-2003

Abstract

Statement of Problem: The end of the Cold War drastically changed the international system and the expectations of the Security Council. "It had the effect of unleashing the dormant legal authority of the Council and turning it into a great engine for the creation of legal obligations and mechanisms for suppressing armed conflict and dealing with its results, many of which would have surprised even the founders of the United Nations." The expansion of the mechanisms available to the Security Council, as well as the scope of activities that involve the Security Council has a direct impact on the lives and conditions of ever increasing numbers of people around the world. Yet accusations of shirking its responsibility with regard to the vital interests of its members, and more specifically the permanent five members of the Council, has had an impact of the perspectives and attitudes of the Council's authority and legitimacy. Former Security Council President Kishore Mahbubani states the following: The work of the Council has been compared to a fire department. The Security Council is supposed to come out and put out the conflicts no matter where they happen. But in practice, the Council's record is mixed. If it affects Park A venue, the Security Council reacts. If it doesn't affect Park Avenue, in some parts of Africa, the Security Council doesn't react. And these double standards are beginning to be perceived. This raises the question: When considering the Security Council's mandated responsibility to maintain international peace and security, how do the actions of the Council affect the attitudes, presuppositions, and expectations of conflict parties and international observers towards the UN system and Council intervention? Research Method: The thesis will utilize a mixed methods, qualitative, reflexive, critical realism, editing approach that is "interpretative, flexible, based on meanings and patterns in the texts," and will also involve one aspect of the template approach, the 'priori' basis. At the same time the Miles and Huberman approach will be incorporated, considering the realistic focus of the approach. "Philosophically, their position is firmly entrenched in realism, hence permitting a consistency of the realist view through from design to analysis." The Miles and Huberman approach has three con-current 'flows of activity': data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification.7 These activities work in constant interaction with one another and allow for a refinement and evolution of the research and analysis through this interaction. Data reduction is necessary due to the sheer volume of data available on the subject and events. Throughout the data collection process there must be a reduction of this vast amount of information, and some of the ways include: "summaries and abstracts, coding, writing memos, etc."8 Miles and Huberman stress that this is integral part of data analysis, the process of 'what to select and summarize and how this is to be organized.' Data display is the ways in which data is organized and displayed, and may be "found in the use of matrices, charts, networks, etc." Data display has "a vital function both during data collection and afterwards, so that you get a feel for what the data is telling you, what justified conclusions can be drawn and what further analysis are called for." Conclusion drawing and verification occurs at the very beginning of data collection, with observations and findings that include "noting patterns and regularities, positing possible structures and mechanisms." At the same time as this process is unfolding, there should be verification throughout in various forms by ''testing their validity and reliability." [...]