Rule of Law and United Nations Interoperability

This article considers how a rule of law approach, central to the UN’s activities since 2004, could facilitate the operationalization of interoperability across its agencies. But what is rule of law: the Anglo-American judicalized understanding or the civil law model, l’Etat de droit or Rechtsstaat, that is more rooted in the governance of the State? And while a State that increasingly adopts a rule of law stance will, with the support of the UN, better protect and empower all persons on its territory, the UN itself must also uphold the rule of law. The crucible of displacement is used to put these arguments to the test, since this highlights the essentially Westphalian framework of international law and practice, as it involves more than one State and more than one UN operation.