Should and Must

In legal/diplomatic language, ‗should‘ and ‗must‘ share with ‗shall‘ some pragmatic roots of demanding action and expressing obligation. In particular, ‗should‘ ―can be vested with a performative or a prescriptive communicative function‖ (Caliendo 2004: 249).

All of the six occurrences of ‗should‘ found in the Iraq corpus are expressions of deontic modality. They express weaker obligations than the ones containing ‗shall‘ or ‗must‘ and they seem to have been deliberately chosen to convey values and principles. As a matter of fact, all the occurrences of ‗should‘ are found in clauses that deal with the provision of humanitarian relief to the Iraqi people, as can be seen in the following examples:

(72) Recalling the establishment of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on 14 August 2003, and affirming that the United Nations should play a leading role in assisting the Iraqi people and government in the formation of institutions for representative government […].

(S/RES/ 1546 (2004))

(73) 23. Emphasizes that the International Advisory and Monitoring Board IAMB referred to in paragraph 12 of resolution 1483 (2003) should be established as a priority, and reiterates that the Development Fund for Iraq shall be used in a transparent manner as set out in paragraph 14 of resolution 1483 (2003); (S/RES/1511 (2003))

(74) Noting that under the provisions of Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of August 12, 1949), to the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary

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foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate […].(S/RES/1472 (2003))

(75) 3. Recognizes that additionally, in view of the exceptional circumstances prevailing currently in Iraq, on an interim and exceptional basis, technical and temporary adjustments should be made to the Programme so as to ensure the implementation of the approved funded and non-funded contracts concluded by the Government of Iraq for the humanitarian relief of the people of Iraq, including to meet the needs of refugees and internally displaced persons, in accordance with this resolution […]. (S/RES/ 1472 (2003))

(76) Resolved that the United Nations should play a vital role in humanitarian relief, the reconstruction of Iraq, and the restoration and establishment of national and local institutions for representative governance […]. (S/RES/1483 (2003))

(77) 8. Resolves that the United Nations, acting through the Secretary-General, his Special Representative, and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, should strengthen its vital role in Iraq, including by providing humanitarian relief, promoting the economic reconstruction of and conditions for sustainable development in Iraq, and advancing efforts to restore and establish national and local institutions for representative government […]. (S/RES/1511(2003))

Example (72), which is a preambulatory clause, seems to express even less deontic force than example (73) retrieved from an operational section. The different degree of deonticity in this case could be connected to contextual purposes, due to the fact that operative clauses identify the concrete actions and decisions made in a resolution, while preambulatory clauses only explain the purpose of the resolution and state the main reasons of the resolution.

‗Should‘ is also used in combination with other modals, as it seems to better specify obligations introduced by ‗shall‘ or other expressions of modality as can be seen in examples (78) and (79) below:

(78) Noting that under the provisions of Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of August 12, 1949), to the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary

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foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate […]. (S/RES/1472 (2003))

(79) 23. Emphasizes that the International Advisory and Monitoring Board IAMB referred to in paragraph 12 of resolution 1483 (2003) should be established as a priority, and reiterates that the Development Fund for Iraq shall be used in a transparent manner as set out in paragraph 14 of resolution 1483 (2003) […]. (S/RES/1511(2003))

While in example (78) ‗should‘ is strengthened by the expression ‗has the duty‘ that precedes it, example (79) puts emphasis of the different deontic power of ‗shall‘ and ‗should‘. In this case the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) was an NGO appointed to oversee the Coalition Provisional Authority‘s disbursements from the humanitarian Development Fund for Iraq. This fund was established to hold the proceeds of petroleum export sales from Iraq, as well as remaining balances from the UN Oil-for-Food Program and other frozen Iraqi funds. Its disbursements were said to have to be obligatorily used uniquely for the benefit of the Iraqi people. Thus, ‗should‘ could be connected to the audit oversight nature of the IAMB, which did not have any legislative power, while

‗shall‘, with its strong deontic force, has been used to emphasise the mandatory intention of the clause.

However, being part of the group of vaguest modal auxiliaries together with ‗may‘, ‗might‘,

‗could‘ and ‗would‘ (Gotti 2005: 238) and expressing a ‗weak‘ deontic force, the strength and actual application of ‗should‘ remains a source of vagueness. In relation to the cases found in the corpus, it is questionable to what extent the role of giving humanitarian relief to the Iraqi people was mandatory, what had to be concretely done, and to what extent the organisations, such as the UN, had the legal - apart from the moral - duty to intervene in the Iraqi issue.

As far as concerns ‗must‘, this modal has two meanings: an epistemic meaning of ‗logical necessity‘ or ‗confident inference‘ and a root meaning of ‗obligation‘ or ‗necessity‘, with socially-oriented deontic necessity being interpreted as an obligation.

The original meaning of must was that of ―being allowed or able to do something‖

(Mitchell/Robinson in Williams 2007: 122). It is not known how its meaning has been transformed into obligation or duty in general language. The gradual spread of ‗must‘ as expressing obligation led to the weakening of ‗shall‘, which slowly began to express futurity except in legal language,

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As a matter of fact, ‗must‘ is still not very common in legal language, ―constituting little more than three per cent of all finite verbal constructions today‖ (Williams 2007: 123).

However, many movements such as the Plain English Movement advocate the substitution of

‗shall‘ with ‗must‘ in legal and institutional language, for sake of clarity, in order to avoid confusion between general and legal language meanings.

In the Iraq corpus, there are four occurrences of ‗must‘, all of them expressing a deontic meaning. However, if the occurrences are analysed more closely, it can be said that they do not express all the same deontic meaning. Compare the examples below:

(80) Stressing the right of the Iraqi people freely to determine their own political future […], and expressing resolve that the day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly […].

(S/RES/1483 (2003))

(81) 11. Reaffirms that Iraq must meet its disarmament obligations, encourages the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America to keep the Council informed of their activities in this regard, and underlines the intention of the Council to revisit the mandates of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency as set forth in resolutions 687 (1991) of 3 April 1991, 1284 (1999) of 17 December 1999, and 1441 (2002) of 8 November 2002 […]. (S/RES/1483 (2003))

(82) 18. Unequivocally condemns the terrorist bombings of the Embassy of Jordan on 7 August 2003, of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003, and of the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf on 29 August 2003, and of the Embassy of Turkey on 14 October 2003, the murder of a Spanish diplomat on 9 October 2003, and the assassination of Dr. Akila al-Hashimi, who died on 25 September 2003, and emphasizes that those responsible must be brought to justice […].

(S/RES/1511 (2003))

(83) Underscoring that the sovereignty of Iraq resides in the State of Iraq, reaffirming the right of the Iraqi people freely to determine their own political future and control their own natural resources, reiterating its resolve that the day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly, and recognizing the importance of international support, particularly that of countries in the region,

Iraq's neighbours, and regional organizations, in taking forward this process expeditiously […].

(S/RES/1511 (2003))

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Of the four occurrences of ‗must‘ found in the corpus, only examples (81) and (82) seems to express the core deontic meaning of imminent obligation, while the other three cases express an objective to be achieved in time. Its use could also be connected to its meaning of ‗requirement‘, which distinguishes deontic ‗must‘ from ‗shall‘.