Beware the Backlash
In analysis for Political Violence At A Glance, an IGCC-supported blog dedicated to political violence and its alternatives, Brian Greenhill, Associate Professor at the University at Albany, SUNY, and Dan Reiter, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor at Emory University, analyze international organizations and their potential effect on public opinion about the war in Ukraine.
Almost immediately after launching its invasion of Ukraine, Russia became a pariah state. Its violation of the norm of sovereignty—the idea that maintaining order in the international system depends on respecting other countries’ territorial integrity—was so brazen that it shocked the international community. Many international organizations were quick to call out Russia directly for its aggression. These included the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), two prominent international organizations that depend heavily on Russian cooperation.
As the horrors of the war become more apparent, pressure from international organizations has intensified. On April 7, Russia was forced out of the UN’s main human rights body, the Human Rights Council. The last and only other time this has happened was in 2011, when Libya’s membership in the Human Rights Council was suspended in response to its government’s violent repression of the pro-democracy activists. And on April 13, the OSCE accused Russia of committing war crimes.
Will criticism from international organizations make a difference?
Read the full blog post at Political Violence At A Glance.