Report on the New York Conference

20.09.2016 Bodo Schulz

The Spring Conference 2016 in New York focused on the relationship between the concept of the monopoly on the use of force and the international order.

The Spring Conference focused on the relationship between the concept of the monopoly on the use of force and the international order. Discussions at previous meetings of the Reflection Group strongly problematized the ideal of the “Westphalian” blueprint of statehood and the related “Weberian” notion of the monopoly on the legitimate use of force in light of the heterogeneous and hybrid realities of statehood and security provision in different parts of the world. Yet it is precisely the territorial nation state which is the pivotal reference point of international law and the supposedly fundamental building block of the current international order. The New York conference was therefore intended to shed light on the implications of the changing realities of the relationship between security provision, international law and security architecture.