International law
Knowledge clip 1.1
Why are issues important
- Knowing what both mainstream and more critical international lawyers see when
they survey the global space
- History how we see the present
- Understanding the role of international lawyers in the past
1. A vision of international law
- Wherever there is society there is law
- As in domestic society so in international society: international law is the law
governing the relations between states
- What relations/examples:
o Rules on trade of goods
o Rules on protecting the environment
o Rules on the conduct of war
o Rules on tackling pandemics & IP rules on vaccine patents
- International law is not private international law, which are the rules governing
conflicts of laws between individuals with different countries
- International law is not international relations. A separate field of study with its own
understanding of international law, but international law deals with the normative
constraints placed on global actors
- International law is not transnational law. Area of law dealing with cross-border
cooperation on criminal investigators
- International law as the body of rules regulating the (public) conduct of equal
sovereign states. But how what are the building blocks?
o No single overarching authority: no world government
o Sovereign equality of states
States can create rules/principles (lawmakers)
That create rights & obligations upon them (law-abiders)
o Centrality of consent: states consent to be bound by rules
Is there a problem here?
If one both makes the rules and is bound by them, then how is this
really a normative system that constrains behavior
o good faith, also values (human rights), expectations, and contextual factors
- consent in practice
o formal equality vs. substantive inequality
- a (modern) vision of international law
o international law is the body of rules regulating the (public) conduct of equal
sovereign states. But, does this traditional definition stand up to modern
scrutiny? What 21st centuty developments might challenge this definition
states are no longer the only actors
are all states equal? What role does law play in promoting equality, or
in reinforcing inequality between states?
Globalization has brought forth a wide range of new law
o No longer one vision but many
,Knowledge clip 1.2
2. Multiple visions of international law
- Range of different visions
o International law as still governing conduct of international society, however
complex (positivist vision)
o International law as law protecting humanity and upholding human rights and
the rule of law (naturalist, liberal vision)
o International law as a tool of domination by powerful actors over the
powerless (Marxism, feminism)
- Traditional vision
o Objective, neutral, apolitical
o Universal
o Based on & promoting equality
o Force for good
- Critical visions
o Subjective, biased, political
o Eurocentric/western/patriarchal
o Reinforcing inequality – gender, race, class, etc.
o Force for…?
o Should be understood, critiqued, even abolished
- None is necessarily better than the other
- All visions see a role for the international lawyer
o Traditional vision sees international lawyer as a technical expert & problem
solver
o Critical visions see international lawyer deploying a vocabulary for conducting
politics (law as the continuation of war by other means)
o Either way, we must accept that legal arguments have consequences for
those subjects to demand factor this into our analysis
Knowledge clip 1.3
3. History of international law
- Traditional view:
o 1648 treaty of Westphalia
o Europe divided into several, self-governing territorial units
o Birth of modern state system
o Still being perfected
- 19 century positivism
th
o IL can be identified via the doctrine of sources
o Binding on states
o A science: objective, neutral, universal
- 20 century: efforts to codify IL through Hague conventions failed- WW1
th
o The move to institutions: League of nations, but also the international postal
union, international labour organization, etc.
o WW2, fascism & the holocaust
o Post-1945, ‘modern international legal order’ we are familiar with: united
nations, universal declaration on human rights, European integration
o Problems to be overcome:
, 1960s – decolonization
1970s – globalization of trade, but also inequality
1990s and beyond – humanitarianism, war on terror, climate change
Knowledge clip 1.4
4. History of international law 2:
- International law is a language of politics… then the history of international law is the
history of experts advising for empire and for capital
- This means:
o Not a gradual progression towards more rules and protections, but an
expanding vocabulary
o Contextualizing international legal history – colonialism, capitalism, war
- Colonial origins & Victoria
o 16th century Spanish jurist
o Studying Spanish ‘discovery’ of the Americans Spanish have the right to
travel, establish and trade in the Americans
o Questions: how to manage the relations between them?
o Answer: sovereignty makes the Indians part of a common framework, but if
Indians attempt to defy/resist Spanish incursion, then Spanish have the right
to make war.
o IL allowing Spain to colonize
- Traditional view
o Myth of 1648 tready
o Alternative view
Hugo Grotius’ Mare Liberum (1609)
Adviser to Dutch Easy India Company operating in modern-day
Indonesia
Freedom of the high seas
- 19 century positivism
th
o Alternative view: arguing IL the exclusive province of ‘civilized societies’
Hierarchy of civilized states and uncivilized states
Uncivilized had to evolve culturally and politically to be included in the
‘family of nations’
Justifying imperialism
- Modern effects and manifestations of colonialism and inequality
o League of nations mandate system to govern
o WW2, fascism and the holocaust
o Post-1945, human rights, not socio-economic redistribution
o Colonialism after decolonization: international financial institutions like the
world bank and international monetary fund
o Globalization heightening inequality: war on terror as war against the global
south; climate change made by the west but suffered by the rest
- Competing histories
o Give us different view of the present
o Different focus on current events – Afghanistan
o Different sense of IL pros/cons
Knowledge clip 1.1
Why are issues important
- Knowing what both mainstream and more critical international lawyers see when
they survey the global space
- History how we see the present
- Understanding the role of international lawyers in the past
1. A vision of international law
- Wherever there is society there is law
- As in domestic society so in international society: international law is the law
governing the relations between states
- What relations/examples:
o Rules on trade of goods
o Rules on protecting the environment
o Rules on the conduct of war
o Rules on tackling pandemics & IP rules on vaccine patents
- International law is not private international law, which are the rules governing
conflicts of laws between individuals with different countries
- International law is not international relations. A separate field of study with its own
understanding of international law, but international law deals with the normative
constraints placed on global actors
- International law is not transnational law. Area of law dealing with cross-border
cooperation on criminal investigators
- International law as the body of rules regulating the (public) conduct of equal
sovereign states. But how what are the building blocks?
o No single overarching authority: no world government
o Sovereign equality of states
States can create rules/principles (lawmakers)
That create rights & obligations upon them (law-abiders)
o Centrality of consent: states consent to be bound by rules
Is there a problem here?
If one both makes the rules and is bound by them, then how is this
really a normative system that constrains behavior
o good faith, also values (human rights), expectations, and contextual factors
- consent in practice
o formal equality vs. substantive inequality
- a (modern) vision of international law
o international law is the body of rules regulating the (public) conduct of equal
sovereign states. But, does this traditional definition stand up to modern
scrutiny? What 21st centuty developments might challenge this definition
states are no longer the only actors
are all states equal? What role does law play in promoting equality, or
in reinforcing inequality between states?
Globalization has brought forth a wide range of new law
o No longer one vision but many
,Knowledge clip 1.2
2. Multiple visions of international law
- Range of different visions
o International law as still governing conduct of international society, however
complex (positivist vision)
o International law as law protecting humanity and upholding human rights and
the rule of law (naturalist, liberal vision)
o International law as a tool of domination by powerful actors over the
powerless (Marxism, feminism)
- Traditional vision
o Objective, neutral, apolitical
o Universal
o Based on & promoting equality
o Force for good
- Critical visions
o Subjective, biased, political
o Eurocentric/western/patriarchal
o Reinforcing inequality – gender, race, class, etc.
o Force for…?
o Should be understood, critiqued, even abolished
- None is necessarily better than the other
- All visions see a role for the international lawyer
o Traditional vision sees international lawyer as a technical expert & problem
solver
o Critical visions see international lawyer deploying a vocabulary for conducting
politics (law as the continuation of war by other means)
o Either way, we must accept that legal arguments have consequences for
those subjects to demand factor this into our analysis
Knowledge clip 1.3
3. History of international law
- Traditional view:
o 1648 treaty of Westphalia
o Europe divided into several, self-governing territorial units
o Birth of modern state system
o Still being perfected
- 19 century positivism
th
o IL can be identified via the doctrine of sources
o Binding on states
o A science: objective, neutral, universal
- 20 century: efforts to codify IL through Hague conventions failed- WW1
th
o The move to institutions: League of nations, but also the international postal
union, international labour organization, etc.
o WW2, fascism & the holocaust
o Post-1945, ‘modern international legal order’ we are familiar with: united
nations, universal declaration on human rights, European integration
o Problems to be overcome:
, 1960s – decolonization
1970s – globalization of trade, but also inequality
1990s and beyond – humanitarianism, war on terror, climate change
Knowledge clip 1.4
4. History of international law 2:
- International law is a language of politics… then the history of international law is the
history of experts advising for empire and for capital
- This means:
o Not a gradual progression towards more rules and protections, but an
expanding vocabulary
o Contextualizing international legal history – colonialism, capitalism, war
- Colonial origins & Victoria
o 16th century Spanish jurist
o Studying Spanish ‘discovery’ of the Americans Spanish have the right to
travel, establish and trade in the Americans
o Questions: how to manage the relations between them?
o Answer: sovereignty makes the Indians part of a common framework, but if
Indians attempt to defy/resist Spanish incursion, then Spanish have the right
to make war.
o IL allowing Spain to colonize
- Traditional view
o Myth of 1648 tready
o Alternative view
Hugo Grotius’ Mare Liberum (1609)
Adviser to Dutch Easy India Company operating in modern-day
Indonesia
Freedom of the high seas
- 19 century positivism
th
o Alternative view: arguing IL the exclusive province of ‘civilized societies’
Hierarchy of civilized states and uncivilized states
Uncivilized had to evolve culturally and politically to be included in the
‘family of nations’
Justifying imperialism
- Modern effects and manifestations of colonialism and inequality
o League of nations mandate system to govern
o WW2, fascism and the holocaust
o Post-1945, human rights, not socio-economic redistribution
o Colonialism after decolonization: international financial institutions like the
world bank and international monetary fund
o Globalization heightening inequality: war on terror as war against the global
south; climate change made by the west but suffered by the rest
- Competing histories
o Give us different view of the present
o Different focus on current events – Afghanistan
o Different sense of IL pros/cons
