The Rule of Law: Undermined and Under Attack Questioning the State Monopoly on the Legitimate Use of Physical Force
To cope with the most serious challenges in peace and security, norms must be upheld and processes put in place for their application. To systematise the challenges to the traditional concept of the state’s legitimate monopoly on force, this policy brief by Herbert Wulf for the
Toda Peace Institute looks at four areas that challenge that monopoly:
- Refocusing from state to people: The failure of states in providing security and the trend of intervening in such cases;
- Globalisation and the diminished role of the state in providing security, leading to the growing importance of non-state actors;
- Misuse of force: The failure of states to apply force legitimately and the abuse or predatory use of force; and
- Privatisation of force: From above (outsourcing force and tolerating non-state violent actors) or from below (citizens taking the law into their own hands, practicing self-justice or apply force outside state law, including customary law).
The list of conflicts underlines the thesis of this policy brief that the rule of law is being undermined and the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force is almost universally at risk.
https://toda.org/assets/files/resources/policy-briefs/t-pb-105_herbert-wulf.pdf ;
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