World order is the concept of peace and regulation within all nation states of the world. The most important component of world order is a world full of peace, greater equality and freedom from suffering. However the initiative of world order is evidently an ideal. That is, effectively achieving world order is a nearly impossible and incredibly arduous process.

The establishment of world order has been heavily influenced by the pressure of armed conflict. Conflict comes in many forms including conventional, guerrilla, internal, nuclear and terrorist warfare. Conventional conflict is generally regular warfare where a country declares war on another, whereas guerrilla warfare has soldiers that are not involved in conventional armys using inadequate equipment. There are various forms of internal conflict comprising of civil war, genocide, coup detat, insurrection and warlordism. In the past few decades nuclear war, where nuclear weapons are involved, has become more apparent, for instance the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Contemporary society is very aware of and concerned with the possible threat of terrorist attacks or terrorist warfare. This was especially evident after the September 11 attacks. The paradox of conflict is that it drives the need for world order whilst posing the single greatest threat to it. There have been many organisations and initiatives established in order to achieve this essential notion. These fundamental organisations have been the Hague in 1899, The League of Nations 1907, The Pact of Paris 1928 and the United Nations Charter, 1945. The primary goal of these organisations has been to promote peace and security between nations. The United Nations Charter or UN, holds two fundamental peace principles within Article 2: all members shall settle their disputes by peaceful means and all members shall refrain in their international relations from threat or use of force. Therefore, the legal system has been somewhat effective in achieving justice by formulating initiatives that aim and promote peace within nation states. The regulation of war has operated for centuries. The Geneva Convention has been very significant in the regulation of war. The goal was the humanisation of conflict. The convention in 1949 related particularly to the treatment of prisoners and civilians in war. In 1977 the convention correlated with victims of international and internal armed conflicts. This has been very effective in dealing with the issue of war and peace. International customary law is formed through the customs of a nation state, which normally becomes entrenched in laws. It wasnt until recently that all international law was customary law. This was ineffective because customs develop too slowly to use effectively under international law. Treaties are now more perceptible. Despite this customs are still very important in international law. For example, the Japanese whaling shows how they are going against international wishes due to their own countries customs of hunting whales. In order to ensure there is peace and security in the world, there have been many effectual methods endorsed. The most important international instruments are treaties, declarations and conventions. Treaties can either be bi-lateral, meaning they are between two countries, or multi-lateral, where more than two countries agree to it. Once a country has signed a treaty, they are bound by international law and the International Court of Justice. An example of a significant treaty is The South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty (1986). It was signed by eight nations, banning the detonation of all nuclear devices. This is effective within world order because it established a system to verify compliance of ensuring the manufacture, testing or stationing of nuclear explosive devices was illegal. Another important aspect of international instruments is jus cogens. This applies when a new philosophical rule is created for example when slavery became illegal. There are many barriers in working towards world order. State sovereignty is the right of a nation state to have control over its own affairs without the interference from other countries. Such an example is the human rights crisis in Zimbabwe where other nations cannot interfere or they will undermine this concept. Sovereignty includes the right to refuse to enter a treaty such as Australia choosing not to sign the Kyoto Protocol. A nation can only be bound by international law if they agree. Until it is enacted domestically, the treaty and its requirements have no legal status in the nation, and therefore cannot be enforced. The success of world order is reliant on all nations contributing to peaceful negotiations and settlements of all disputes. Lack of compliance is perhaps the greatest impediment to world order. For instance the US went to war against Iraq despite the pleas from the UN not to do so. Furthermore, the concept of force is one mechanism that has many contradicting values with it. The UN Charter states that force should be refrained from. Nonetheless, force is lawful if it is used in response to an immediate threat, where there are no other alternatives. The most significant organisation established to ensure world order is the UN, which plays a huge role in the peaceful settlement of disputes. Under the UN there are six organs, one of which is the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ is the main judicial organisation within the international arena. It contains fifteen judges, each from various geographical locations with its primary role to decide on disputes brought before it by member nations. It aims to resolve disputes before violence erupts. The ICJ is also important in the protection of human rights by ensuring the rights of individuals are maintained. However, the problem with the ICJ is that it is more of a watch-dog than an endorser of international law. This is one of the limitations of world order, that is, it is not always enforceable. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a newly created but equally significant body in maintaining world order. Convened in 2002 by the Hague, it is based on a treaty joined by 100 countries with 18 judges each elected by state parties for a term of up to 9 years. Countries ratifying the treaty that created the ICC grant its authority to try their citizens for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The court can only exercise its jurisdiction when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes. Thomas Lubanga was the first to trialed in the ICC for his crimes of using child soldiers. Another important body in maintaining world order is HREOC (Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission). HREOC Promotes the elimination of unlawful discrimination based on race, sex, disability or age, and to promote human rights for all people. In 2001, HEROC began the National Inquiry into children in immigration detention. It was established to consider whether Australias immigration detention laws and its treatment of children in detention comply with the UNs Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990. The convention requires detention of children to be a measure of last resort. However, Australias immigration laws make the detention of unauthorised children the only resort. The inquiry also found that these children had suffered numerous and repeated breaches of human rights, for example, failure to protect mental health, failure to provide adequate health care and education, failure to protect unaccompanied children and those with disabilities. By exposing such an issue the government has pressure to rectify it hence, showing HRECOs effectiveness There are also a myriad of non-government organisations that achieve a great deal in world order. They represent specialised groups and areas and promote their concerns. Some examples of NGOs are Amnesty International, which is a human and political rights organisation. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been important in promoting the concept of humanitarian law and also limiting the methods or warfare. NGOs are imperative in ensuring that the international law is effective, therefore, vital to world order. There are various non legal remedies that are also very effectual in helping to achieve world order. Regional intergovernmental organisations deal with matters relating to the international peace that is within the limits of the UN. For instance, the Organisation of African Unity is vital in the peaceful settlement of disputes, through methods such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation and arbitration. It acts as a impartial third party during disputes which ensures disagreements can be resolved in the most just way as possible. Furthermore, the media plays a huge role in world order by generate public interest and informing the community of issues of concern. By exposing such issues, this can place pressure on governments to contend with the problem. For example, the media coverage in 1999 during the East Timor crisis led to pleas of intervention by the Australian government.

The scope for achieving world order is a broad one with most of the suggestions in world order being idealistic ones. All remedies mentioned are effective im achieving world order, but only to an extent. The international arena needs to constantly renew and modernise their remedies to ensure that, not only will world order be effective, but actually present in our ever changing international scope.