These are hard times for formal international institutions. The post-Cold War period saw the rapid expansion of multilateral organisations in numerous policy domains, not least in the spheres of conflict management and peacemaking. These included not only the UN, but also specialised entities including the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), regional bodies such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and legal innovations such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). By trial and error, this network of institutions created a loose framework for mitigating and resolving conflicts, placing constraints on how warring parties fought one another. Today, that framework looks like it is creaking.
The Twilight of International Peacemaking Institutions? | International Crisis Group
