Iraq

Abstract

This chapter examines how the Security Council used its powers under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter to react to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, or acts of aggression by Iraq against Kuwait. With the invasion and annexation of Kuwait in August 1990, Iraqi decision makers had to expect an international reaction. However, they surely could not anticipate that this move would place Iraq in the shadow of Chapter VII's enforcement measures for the two decades to come. This chapter explains how Iraq's invasion of Kuwait became a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the potential of the resurrected UN collective security system. It argues that rather than being reborn in Iraq after its demise during the Cold War, the UN collective security system was in fact buried again in Iraq as the Chapter VII regime became a trap from which the country had no chance to escape.