Key Concepts

The Geneva Charter employs a limited set of defined concepts to analyse international order. These concepts are used consistently across analysis, methodology, and normative propositions. Precision of language is essential where ambiguity has increasingly become an instrument of power rather than understanding.

Each concept below serves as a foundational analytical lens. Together, they establish the interpretive framework through which institutional stability, sovereign equality, and systemic risk are assessed.

Conceptual Framework

• Rule of Law vs Rules-Based Order
  Distinguishes universal, reciprocal legal restraint from selectively defined and selectively enforced rule frameworks.
• Sovereign Equality
  Treats states as formally equal under law regardless of power, size, alignment, or capacity.
• Predictability and Stability
  Examines how advance-known rules reduce escalation, uncertainty, and systemic fragility.
• Enforcement and Automaticity
  Addresses why discretionary enforcement undermines legitimacy and why predictable consequence mechanisms are essential to compliance.

These concepts form the analytical foundation upon which the Charter’s principles, assessments, and classifications are built.