How far does the UK support the United Nations and respect the international rule of law?

The government’s recent proposal for intervention in Syria was rejected by Parliament. The debate raised questions about the influence of international law on UK foreign policy, reviving a discussion that accompanied British military involvement elsewhere in the region – in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. In the 2012 audit of UK democracy, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Andrew Blick, and Stephen Crone found that the UK’s professed commitment to international law and multilateral cooperation had been tested in the years since 11 September 2001.