Bringing together legal experts from Australia, Europe and North America, Strengthening the Rule of Law through the UN Security Council (Routledge, 2016) is a timely volume examining how the concept of the rule of law regulates and influences the activities of the UN's most powerful organ, the Security Council. Mandated to maintain international peace and security, the book explores the Council's relationship with the rule of law in relation to its three most prominent tools: peacekeeping, sanctions, and military force. The book is edited by Dr. Jeremy Farrall and Professor Hilary Charlesworth, both of the Australian National University.
Contributing to the use of force section of the book, the chapter by Faculty of Law Professor Joanna Harrington examines the use of military force in mass atrocity situations, reviewing the controversy that stemmed from the 2011 military intervention in Libya and the Brazilian proposal for a stronger commitment to a concept of "responsibility while protecting". Her work calls for a greater focus on the procedural aspects of decision-making, including consultation with troop-contributing countries, a mandates monitoring mechanism for encouraging accountability, and access to "horizon-scanning" reports on emerging situations of concern. In short, she argues that process, as well as substance, is also part of the rule of law.