Creative forces and institution building in international law

Abstract

The phrase ‘the end of history’ was the euphoric title of an article by the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama in the summer of 1989, before the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.2 Taking a largely Hegelian approach to the philosophy of history, the phrase came to signify that with the collapse of the Soviet Union the last ideological alternative to liberalism would be eliminated.3 This would entail a number of consequences for the evolution of world order. Irrespective of a largely critical reception of the phrase, the 1990s saw a quantum leap in the development of new international legal norms and institutions, notably with the establishment of the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the establishment of institutions of international criminal justice. Following the end of the Cold War, unprecedented patterns of cooperation emerged also within the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). After the liberation of Kuwait in 1991 based on an authorization of use of force under Chapter VII of the Charter, the Council convened an extraordinary summit of Heads of State and Government in January 1992.4 It tasked the new