Intervention by Invitation in Post-Election Disputes: The Analysis of the Security Council Practice in the Gambia (2017)

The prohibition of use of force is one of the primary obligations of States under Article 4(2) of the United Nations Charter. No violation of this principle is permitted except in the case of self-defense under article 51 of the Charter or the authorization of the Security Council under chapter VII of the UN Charter. The Intervention by invitation is one of the controversial concepts in legal doctrinal debates partly because it has not been included in the Charter. Based on the latest Security Council’s practice in the case of the Gambia (invitation by an elected President who has never had effective control), the research provides new analytical findings on the theoretical self-sufficiency of the principle of intervention by invitation. The results of the survey support the argument that a President-elect, who is unable to gain power due to electoral riots, may request intervention with the explicit or implicit confirmation of their legitimacy by the SC without any reference to UN Chapter VII Resolutions.