What is International Law? What is International Political Economy?

What is legal positivism?

- Legal Positivism:
-             Law is what is found in the world, it is not connected to morals or theology.
- This is not the only theory of law. Cf. Natural Law.
- Thomas Hobbes:
-             “Where there is no common power, there is no law.”

- John Austin:
-             “Law is the command of the sovereign”
- The sovereign in the subject of habitual obedience.
- Hans Kelsen:
-             A delict ought to be met by a sanction.

The cornerstone in law is that it’s held as a sovereign, who is viewed as legitimate, and can exercise coercion when the law is violated, meaning that

Essentially, law does not exist unless there’s punishment when it’s broken. It has to be sourced from power: received and obeyed and punishment.

What is the ‘rule of law’

- An extremely slippery idea.
- Idea that social order is maintained by adherence to law rather than religious custom or communal traditions.

What is the ‘rule of law’ in modern liberal tradition?

- In the modern liberal tradition this means:
-                           Equality of each individual before the law.
-                           Enforcement of the law by rightful authority.
-                           The law is enforced impartially.
- This creates a duty to obey the law.
-             i.e. Socrates accepting his death sentence.

Duty to obey the law underpins the law

The international system is defined by anarchy, meaning that

it is defined by the lack of sovereign authority and there is no common power, no agent that commands habitual obedience and can enforce sanction

Realism’s view on international relations law?

International relations are characterised by uncertainty and a necessary lack of trust, meaning international law fulfills a different purpose to domestic law

History of International law?

Ius Gentium (Law of Nations) Flashcard

• Roman Roots: Developed in Rome during Late Republic/Early Principate, linked to natural law.

• Core Idea: Reason derives principles for relationships between nations, independent of civil law.

• Decline: Ends with Roman Empire; rise of state sovereignty post-Peace of Westphalia (no law above state).

• Early Modern Revival: Renewed interest in natural law and rights, emphasizing sovereignty & non-interference.

• Key Thinker: Hugo Grotius - On the Law of War and Peace.

• Institutionalization: Key milestones in international law:

  • Geneva Convention (1864), Hague Convention (1899)

  • Permanent Court of Arbitration (1899), International Justice (1922)

  • Nuremberg & Tokyo Trials (1945-48)

  • United Nations Charter (1945), International Criminal Court (1998).

• Shift in Sovereignty: Post-1945, sovereign immunity no longer legit; ad hoc tribunals & ICC for war crimes prosecution.

The Nature of International Law?

- International law comes from custom (the way things are done), treaties, and norms (behaviours that seem to be the right thing, but no force) (jus cogens).
- These do not have the same compelling power as the state.
- For example:
-             The USA is not a signatory to the Treaty of Rome and therefore does not come under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
-             Nicaragua v. US: The ICJ ruled against the US, which then ignored the ruling

International Law vs Domestic Law?

The authority of international law?

“The importance of international law does not rest on the willingness of states to abide by its principles to the detriment of their interests, but in the
fact that they so often judge it in their interests to conform to it." (Bull 134)
- Purpose of international law as a social institution. It is the consensus of the law, the order that gives it authority.
- Contributes to international order – universal principle of sovereignty
- A means to mitigate the worst effects of anarchy.
- Also contributes to change – consensus over consent; legal activism

Why is there so much cooperation for international law if the international system is anarchical?

- The action enjoined by law is viewed as moral or valuable or mandatory.
- Coercion, or the threat thereof.
- Interest in reciprocal action.
- Viewed as in the state’s interest.
- International law and international order
- Identifies the supreme ordering principle – the int’l society of states
- Contribute to change – consensus over consent; legal activism

What’s the ‘human rights revolution’ in regards to international law?

- However, there are emerging norms that could become part of international law.
- Responsibility to Protect (R2P): That sovereignty is conditional on adherence to a
minimal code of behaviour. If there is a violation of human rights, other nations have a right to intervene.
- In the event of a catastrophic failure the international community can intervene if the
UNSC authorises it.
- It has been critiqued as being arbitrary in application and bias towards the Global North.

The changing nature of International Law?

• Loss of Immunity: State leaders now face prosecution for crimes against humanity.

• Crimes Against Humanity: National leaders can be tried for crimes committed against individuals in offense to “humanity” (e.g., Nuremberg & Tokyo Tribunals).

• Sovereign Immunity: Before, sovereign immunity protected leaders; now replaced by human rights principles.

• Human Rights Shift:

  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)

  • International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966)

• Emerging Focus on Individuals: Human beings now recognized as having rights in international law.

• Limitations on State Sovereignty: Sovereignty increasingly limited by human rights treaties (e.g., UK and European Court of Human Rights during Brexit).

• What States Owe: Growing focus on what states owe to individuals, particularly in terms of human rights protection.

The link between political economy and politics?

• Economics fundamentally shapes our lives and it impacts our secure access to fundamental interests like food, healthcare and education.

  • If politics is about “who gets what, when and how”, then it’s basically impossible to separate economics from politics

Example of how the international politics is intertwined with politics?

- The way we think about economics influences world politics.
- The Cold War
- We can think of this as a conflict between two superpower.
- However, what was also in conflict were two fundamentally different ways of organising the economic.

Capitalism vs. Communism.
-             Nikita Khrushchev: We will bury you!
-             Not about nuclear war, but the superiority of communism as a form of economic
organisation.

What is the ‘reification’ of something?

- Reification speaks to instances where we give an independent life to the products of
human labour. It is not conventional human law
- Ludwig Feuerbach: Applied this to religion; a projection of idealised elements of humanity then given its own life.
- Marx applies this to the commodities of labour in the capitalist system; reification and
alienation go together.
- Conventional economics reifies the social elements of capitalism into independent
laws.

Think about John Rawls’ concepts and conceptions; We can have a general concept (justice) but many different conceptions about what that means (utilitarianism, liberalism, socialism, etc.) Hence, the economy is intertwined with politics and law in many ways:

- Think about the variety of terms we use to describe capitalism
- The market economy
- The free enterprise system
- Market forces
- Competition / competitive pressures / cut-throat competition
- Globalisation / economic globalisation / [other sort of] globalisation