Law among nations CHAPTER 1 THE NATURE OF THE LAW International law seeks to stablish principles and procedure to govern relation between states International law arises from 1 the necessity of people to be able to interact in more than one country For example mail travel 2 And the necessity by the states as an entity interacting with one another For example establishing and maintaining diplomatic relations Some definitions There are two definitions for international law 1 The body of rules and principles of action which are binding upon civilized states in their relation to one another 2 Rules and principles of general application dealing with the conduct of states and of international organizations and with their relations inter se as well as with some of their relationships with persons whether natural or judicial The point to note is that the assumption that only the state is an international actor has been declining giving rice to the new definition where states international organizations and people can be under the jurisdiction of international law For example United Nations Organization of American State Intergovernmental organization Red Cross Law and Politics at the International Level International law is generally seen as a conduit for states to justify its behavior And that states are only willing to submit themselves to international resolution if a short term loss is outweigh by a greater benefit Thus the system has low obligation and states can choose to ignore it at will International environment can be describe as an anarchy the absent of authority There is two main reasons for this criticism the comparison of international law and state law and the lack of observation of international law as it pertain to incentives for collaboration We can address the first misconception by pointing out that when we assume the comparison of international and domestic law there has to be an overvaluation of domestic law and an undervaluation of international law s impact Definition of law A binding custom or practice of a community a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority Note that penalties is not mention generally to encompasses all types of law one must include simple noncompliance sanction to reflect laws that are administrative in nature Default Assumptions and International Law The assumption that the majority of the law is comprise of criminal penal When in fact it is a minority the majority of most modern countries legal code is administrative such as copyright family business Also this miss concept of law disregard the main purpose of the law which is to uphold the validity of the constitution it is what gives validity to the branches of government You can think of the non criminal law procedure in the same way that international law occurs When a party feel transgressed it submits complains to an array of arbitration and both party agree to fallow the verdict of such proceeding In this case there is no penal consequences to the party that perform the transgression The second assumption based on the efficiency of the penal system domestically can be refuted if one takes a look at the statistic reported by the FBI in which is reported that the majority of violent criminal go unpunished We can conclude that domestically we do not incur enough arrest percentage to discourage all crime thus why should we think that on the international realm we would be able to perform better The third misconception where the absence of political institutions above the state might give rice to political concerns within the formation and implementation of the law than domestically This for the most part is true however the domestic legal structure is politicize as well While the central structure of modern states is agreeable there are those issues that dived people amongst political lines and the construction and application of the law is tainted by politics Also consider the principal agent problem in the case of cops judges district attorneys and elected officials VISIONAS OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS Different school of thought try to explain the core of international politics realism liberalism neoliberalism and constructivism Political realism The most prevalent school of thought originated by Thomas Hobbes It derives from the theses that under an anarchy international system each state will pursue its own benefit and a constant interest in survival by enhancing its power Realist believe that the low obligation of international law undermines its validity Kenneth waltz associates with the assumption discussed previously of the efficiency relying on the lack of enforceability of law at the international realm Henry Kissinger states that a system in which international enforcement would be common the balance of power would shift to a select group of judges Liberalism neoliberalism In contrast liberalist believe that the modern international system is not based in a system in which the weaker states must agree to the will of the stronger The increasing creation of institution that regulate the international realm suggest this is true Moreover the realist view dismisses the validity and weight of the administrative laws Liberalist argue that these laws are what create the bonds of the international system and are the essence of the system International law is necessary for the purpose of establishing the legitimacy of the parties at the international level the necessities for such party to participate the way they are to be founded and the regularity rules for interaction Constructivism It Is a new school of thought that try to explain the behavior of individual actors in the international system based on the realist and liberalist sense under the lack of governance of the system It is not a prediction toll but a measurement tool oriented to explaining the reason why the international system is the way it is It uses notions values facts that we accept to be true symbolism means of communication and institutions To explain how states behave The validity of the law comes from the stand that states internalize the law thus becoming part of their identity Thus giving weight to NGO and other non state actors in the role of internalizing norms Vital Interest and Law High Politics In the situation that might arise in which national interest are threaten international law become secondary in the minds of decision maker However