ABSTRACT
This study looks at the obstacles of the UN as a Collective Security mechanism with reference to the 2002-2005 Iraq war. It looks at the concept of collective security as a technical term in the field of international relations and how it contributes to international peace and security. The UN played a role that was totally against its underlying principles because a Collective Security mechanism always prohibits the use of force or in one word war. The study gives a strong discussion on the obstacles that led to the war in Iraq and views on how such can be avoided in the future. The UN used force, an act that is considered antithetical to a Collective Security mechanism. Those obstacles that laid the impetus which later conglomerated and culminated to the UN Iraq war forms the focus of this study
