Understanding SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

This MOOC analyses the international dimension of Sustainable Development Goal 16, which focuses on peace, justice and strong institutions. The course kicks off with the Westphalian system, founded on the absolute sovereignty of states and the absence of a higher authority capable of preventing the use of war. It then examines the League of Nations, the first attempt to institutionalise collective security, highlighting its limited successes and structural weaknesses. After that, the course traces the origins of the United Nations and the role of the Security Council, focusing on the veto power and its paralysing effects. Afterwards, the European Union is presented as a more advanced regional model, based on economic interdependence and the transfer of powers to common institutions. The second part of the MOOC addresses the shift from state responsibility to the international criminal responsibility of individuals. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials marked the establishment of the principles of personal responsibility, the irrelevance of official position and the limited relevance of superior orders. Following the long hiatus caused by the Cold War, the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda have revitalised international criminal justice and developed landmark case law on genocide and international crimes. The course culminates with an analysis of the International Criminal Court and the principle of complementarity. In general, the course demonstrates how the establishment of effective international institutions remains shaped by the unresolved tension between state sovereignty and shared authority.