Et tu, qusay? A functional neoclassic response to an assassination-averse ideology

Abstract

This article explores United Nations-sanctioned assassination as a top-down means of removing oppressive regimes to replace the currently preferred but generally ineffective bottom-up methods of Article 41 economic sanctions and Article 42 armed intervention. Rather than leave assassinations to individual nations, UN-granted immunity for the insiders surrounding yet fearing oppressive dictators, encouraging them to remove their leader to avoid war and their resulting deaths would avoid the unintended harm caused to the oppressed citizenry by the present UN framework. Acknowledging the issues raised by the suggestion of assassination, analysis shifts to the application of moral (literary and philosophical) and legal (international and domestic) norms and challenges their bases in light of the need to protect basic human rights while acting in response to a Security Council Article 39 determination of a threat to world peace and security. (A summary of the article is attached at Appendix I).