PO102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Contract, Hugo Grotius, North American Free Trade Agreement
RECAP - Governing at the Global Level
● Many international rules are obeyed despite the lack of enforcement → why?
○ “Enlightened” self-interest (long term) - neighbours are not going to change (must
think long term about relationship)
○ Mutual deterrence (fear of retaliation in kind)
○ Shaming / international reputation
● There is governance - we do not have chaos
● Authority exists (dispersed rather than centralized)
● We do have governing tools and mechanisms (IO’s, NGO’s, Networks, etc)
International Law
● The set of rules that countries follow when dealing with each other
(trade/democracy/aviation, etc)
● How is international law different from domestic law?
● Where does it come from? Is it written down somewhere?
● What about enforcement?
The Sources of International Law
● Tradition (includes norms)
● Agreements signed by states
● Also comes from…
○ Customary state practice
○ General principles of law that are common in many countries
○ Domestic judicial decisions
○ Legal scholarship
What are International Norms?
● A norm: shared expectations on the part of a group about appropriate behaviour
● Norms are legitimized to the extent that members of the group practice the behaviour
without question
● In a country: polygamy could be an accepted norm
Norms… in Global Politics
● Expectations held by states about how international relations are carried out
● Agreed upon behaviour that becomes habitual over time and gains legitimacy
● Behaviour so habitual that leaders stop calculating the payoffs or costs of acting a
certain way
● Norms are often disputed, unsettled, and evolving
International Norm: Use of Chemical Weapons
Chemical Weapons
● CW taboo is very robust international norm
● Prior to Assad regime in 2003, only one violation in last 25 years
● Compare to number of violations of norm against torture
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Enlightened self-interest (long term) - neighbours are not going to change (must think long term about relationship) Mutual deterrence (fear of retaliation in kind) There is governance - we do not have chaos. We do have governing tools and mechanisms (io"s, ngo"s, networks, etc) The set of rules that countries follow when dealing with each other (trade/democracy/aviation, etc) General principles of law that are common in many countries. A norm: shared expectations on the part of a group about appropriate behaviour. Norms are legitimized to the extent that members of the group practice the behaviour without question. In a country: polygamy could be an accepted norm. Expectations held by states about how international relations are carried out. Agreed upon behaviour that becomes habitual over time and gains legitimacy. Behaviour so habitual that leaders stop calculating the payoffs or costs of acting a certain way. Norms are often disputed, unsettled, and evolving. Cw taboo is very robust international norm.
