POLS1005 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: International Criminal Court, Antarctic Treaty System, World Government
[Lecture 9]
THE POLITICS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
Today’s puzzle – in anarchic world of sovereign states, no central authority exists with
enforcement capacity to prevent states from acting as they see fit. Nevertheless, states often do
act like they are constrained by outside norms and laws
- What explains this discrepancy?
- How can other state (and non-state) actors constrain what states do?
Today’s Outline:
1. What is international law?
2. Why and how are international organizations created?
3. The International Criminal Court
WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL LAW?
Competing IR outcomes across issue areas
No supranational authority
Supranational authority
No binding norms and rules
International anarchy
(Realism)
Global hegemony
Binding norms and rules
Global governance
(liberalism)
World government
Salient terms when discussing international law
1. International regimes
2. International norms
3. International law
4. International organisations
1) International regime—definition
• “Regimes are norms, rules, and procedures agreed to in order to regulate an issue area.” (Haas,
Ernest. 1980. “Why Collaborate? Issue Linkage and International Regimes,” World Politics 32: 358)
So what does that mean exactly?
• Norms: why states collaborate
• Rules: what the collaboration is about
• Procedures: how the collaboration is to be carried out.
• International organisations are the bureaucratic structures created to carry out the procedures.
• E.g. the Bretton Woods institutions, the International Postal Union, and the Antarctic Treaty
regime
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2) International law and norms
• International law facilitates cooperation.
- It clarifies obligations
- It defines violations.
- Sometimes provides for independent tribunals to resolve disputes.
• Norms are standards of appropriate behavior that can change the way that states interact.
- Many former practices get outlawed as norms change.
3) International law—definition
• “A body of rules that binds states and other agents in world politics and is considered to
have the status of law.” (FLS 2016: 459)
- Widely considered ‘soft’ law because it is usually unenforceable.
• International law is obeyed in the main because states calculate that it will benefit them in
the long run.
• The two most important sources of international law are treaties and international custom.
Customary international law
• Develops slowly over time as states recognize practices as appropriate and correct.
• Diplomatic immunity is one example of customary international law.
• Other examples of customary law include the freedom of the seas and crimes against
humanity.
Nuclear nonproliferation regime
• Norm against the use of nuclear weapons in war and spreading technology
• Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
• Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
• Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) & Int’l Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
• UNSC resolution 1540 (2004) against non-state actors acquiring WMDs
• Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT)
International treaties
• Treaties typically originate in a convention that brings together a substantial number of states
• Treaties with distributive implications often involve hard bargaining.
• Once finalized, international legal treaties must be ratified by each member state.
- Ratification is voluntary.
- When ratified, the state has opted to be bound by international law.
• Adherence to treaties is therefore consistent with sovereignty.
4) International organisation—definition
• An IO is created with sufficient organisational structure and autonomy to provide formal,
ongoing, multilateral processes of decision-making between states, along with capacity to
execute the collective will of their members (states).
• A majority of the funding for the ongoing operations of the organisation must be non-
symbolic, systematically available, and independent of any one state or another organisation.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Today"s puzzle in anarchic world of sovereign states, no central authority exists with enforcement capacity to prevent states from acting as they see fit. Nevertheless, states often do act like they are constrained by outside norms and laws. Today"s outline: what is international law, why and how are international organizations created, the international criminal court. Salient terms when discussing international law: international regimes, international norms, international law, international organisations, international regime definition. Regimes are norms, rules, and procedures agreed to in order to regulate an issue area. (haas, Issue linkage and international regimes, world politics 32: 358) So what does that mean exactly: norms: why states collaborate, rules: what the collaboration is about, procedures: how the collaboration is to be carried out. International organisations are the bureaucratic structures created to carry out the procedures: e. g. the bretton woods institutions, the international postal union, and the antarctic treaty regime, international law and norms. Sometimes provides for independent tribunals to resolve disputes.
