Subsidiarity in the Maintenance of International Peace and Security

Abstract

This article analyzes the question of subsidiarity in the sphere of the maintenance of international peace and security. This area of law is increasingly torn between normative claims for centralization and those for decentralization. On the one hand, the UN Charter concentrates decision making at the UN Security Council for the imperative aim of international peace and security. On the other hand, the demand for decentralization reemerged with the greater relevance of the Security Council’s exercise of authority to individuals’ rights. This article examines how these opposite normative claims have arisen with regard to the Security Council’s mandate and whether there are any criteria under international law with which to balance these claims.

Keywords: subsidiarity, international peace and security, human rights, decentralization