Think from KERA The U.N. Charter used to prevent war
Jan 28, 2026
Oona A. Hathaway, Yale law and political science scholar and president-elect of the American Society of International Law. She explores how the U.N. Charter once curbed conquest with law and institutions. She discusses how U.S. stretches of self-defense and shifting enforcement weaken norms. She warns powerful states ignoring rules could unravel the postwar order.
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Law To Prevent War
- The UN Charter's radical idea was using law and institutions to prevent war rather than accept it as a tool of statecraft.
- Oona Hathaway argues this legal framework aimed to replace war with enforcement mechanisms and peaceful dispute resolution.
Historical Example Of Might Makes Right
- Oona Hathaway recounts the U.S.-Mexico war as an example of ‘might makes right’ where debt justified territorial seizure.
- She uses this history to show how legal norms once accepted conquest as lawful redress.
Outlawing War Without Tools Failed
- The Kellogg-Briand Pact simply outlawed war without building enforcement mechanisms, which left the world unprepared when states violated it.
- Hathaway emphasizes the need for alternatives to war like sanctions, non-recognition, and criminal accountability.
