right we're now back from our break international law since the middle of the last century has been developing in many directions as the complexities of life in the modern era have multiplied for law reflects the conditions and cultural traditions of the society within which it operates the community evolves a certain specific set of values social economic and political and this stamps its mark on the legal framework which orders life in that environment similarly international law is a product of its environment it has developed in accordance with the prevailing Notions of international relations and to survive
it must be in harmony with the the realities of the age nevertheless there is a continuing tension between those rules already established and the constantly evolving forces that seek changes within the system one of the major problems of international law is to determine when and how to incorporate new standards of behavior and new realities of life into the already existing framework so that on the one hand the law remains relevant and on the other the system itself is not too vigorously disrupted changes that occur within the International Community can be momentous and reverberate throughout the
system for example the Advent of nuclear arms created a status quo in Europe and a balance of Terror throughout the world it currently constitutes a factor of instability as certain States seek to acquire nuclear technology another example is the technological capacity to mine the oceans and the consequent questions as to the nature and beneficiaries of exploitation and similarly with regard to outer space the rise of international terrorism has posited new challenges to the system as States and international organizations struggle to deal with this phenomenon while retaining respect for the sovereignty of states and for human
rights there are several instances of how modern developments demand a constant reappraisal of the structure of international law and its rules the scope of international law today is extensive from the regulation of of space expeditions to the question of the division of the ocean floor and from the protection of human rights to the management of the International Financial system its involvement has spread out from the primary concern with the preservation of peace to embrace all the interests of contemporary International life but the resond det of international law and the determining factor in its composition Remains
the needs and characteristics of the international political system where more than one entity exists within a system there has to be some conception as to how to deal with other such entities whether it be on the basis of coexistence or hostility international law as it has developed since the 17th century has adopted the same approach and has in general though with notable exceptions ested the idea of permanent hostility and enmity because the state while internally Supreme wishes to maintain its sovereignty externally and needs to cultivate other states in an increasingly interdependent World it must acknowledge
the rights of others this acceptance of Rights possessed by all states something unavoidable in a world where none can stand alone leads inevitably to a system to regulate and Define such rights and of course obligations and so one arrives at some form of international legal order no matter how unsophisticated and how occasionally positively disorderly the current system developed in the context of European civilization as it progressed but this has changed the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union mirrored the decline of Europe while the process of decolonization also had a considerable impact more
recently the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the Soviet Union the rise of India and China as major powers and the phenomenon of globalization are also impacting deeply upon the system faced with radical changes in the structure of power international law needs to come to terms with new ideas and new challenges the eurocentric character of international law has been Gravely weakened in the last 60 years or so and the opinion ions hopes and needs of other cultures and civilizations are now playing an increasing role in the evolution of world juridical thought international law reflects first
and foremost the basic state oriented character of world politics and this essentially because the state became over time the primary repository of the organized hopes of peoples whether for for protection or for more expansive aims units of formal Independence benefiting from equal sovereignty in law and equal possession of the basic attributes of statehood have succeeded in creating a system enshrining such values examples that could be noted here include non-intervention in the internal Affairs territorial Integrity nonuse of force and inquality of voting in the United Nation's General Assembly however in addition to this many factors cut
across state borders and create a tension in World politics such as inadequate economic relationships International concern for human rights and the rise in new technological forces State policies and balances of power both International and Regional are a necessary framework within which international law operates as indeed are domestic political conditions and tensions law mirrors the concern of forces within States and between states it is also important to realize that states need law in order to see SE and attain certain goals whether these be economic well-being survival and security or ideological advancement the system therefore has to
be certain enough for such goals to be ascertainable and flexible enough to permit changes when this becomes necessary due to the Confluence of forces demanding it international law however has not just expanded horizontally to embrace the new states which have been established since the end of the second World second world war it has extended itself to include individuals groups and international organizations both private and public within its scope it has also moved into new Fields covering such issues as International Trade problems of Environmental Protection human rights and outer space exploration the growth of positivism in
the 19th century had the effect of focusing the concerns of international law upon sovereign states they alone were the subjects of international law and were to be contrasted with the status of non-independent states and individuals as objects of international law they alone created the law and restrictions upon their independence could not be presumed but the gradual sophistication of positivist Doctrine combined with the Advent of new approaches to the whole system of international relations has broken down this exclusive emphasis and extended the roles played by non-state entities such as individuals multinational firms and International institutions it
was of course long recognized that individuals were entitled to the benefits of international law but it is only recently that they have been able to act directly rather than rely upon their National States the nurenberg and Tokyo tribunals set up by the Victorious allies after the close of the second world war were a vital part of this process many of those accused were found guilty of crimes against humanity and against peace and were punished accordingly it was a recognition of individual responsibility under international law without the usual interposition of the state and has been reinforced
with the establishment of the Rwanda and Yugoslav war crimes tribunals in the mid 1990s and indeed the international criminal court in 1998 the discussion regarding a possible war crimes tribunal to deal with Russia's invasion of Ukraine underlines this similarly the 1948 genocide convention provided for the punishment of offenders after conviction by national court or by an international criminal tribunal the developing concern with human rights is another aspect of this move towards increasing the role of the individual in international law the universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948 lists a series of
political and social rights although it is a only a guideline are not legally binding as such the European convention for the protection of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms signed in 1950 and the international covenants on human rights of 1966 are of a different nature and binding upon the signatories in an effort to function satisfactorily various bodies of a supervisory and implementational nature were established within the European Union individuals and corporations have certain rights of direct appeal to the to the European court of justice against decisions of the various Union institutions in addition individuals may appear
before s certain International tribunals nevertheless the whole subject has been highly controversial with some writers for example Soviet theorists prior to perista denying that individuals may have rights as distinct from duties under international law but it is indicative of the trend away from the exclusivity of the state together with the evolution of individual human rights the rise of international organizations marks perhaps the key distinguishing feature of modern international law in fact international law cannot in the Contemporary era be understood without reference to the growth in number and influence of such intergovernmental institutions and of these
the most important by far is the United Nations the UN comprises the vast majority of States currently 193 member states and that alone constitutes a political factor of high importance in the process of diplom atic relations and negotiations and indeed facilitates International cooperation and Rule creation further of course the existence of the security Council as an executive organ with powers to adopt resolutions in certain circumstances that are binding upon all member states is unique in the history of international relations International organizations have now been accepted as possessing rights and duties of their own and a
distinctive International legal personality the international court of justice in 1949 delivered an advisory opinion in which it stated that the UN was a subject of international law and could enforce its rights by bringing International claims in this case against Israel following the assassination of count Bernard do a un official such a ruling can be applied to embrace other International institutions like the international labor organization and the food and agriculture organization which each have a Judicial character of their own thus while States Remain the primary subject of international law they are now joined by other non-state
entities whose importance is likely to grow even further in the future the growth of regional organizations should also be noted at this stage many of these were created for reasons of military security for example NATO and the opposing Warsaw Pact organizations others as an expression of regional and cultural identity such as the organization of African Unity now the African Union and the organization of American states in a class of its own is the European Union which has gone far down the road of economic coordination and standardization and has a range of common institutions serviced by
a growing bureaucracy stationed primary in Brussels such Regional organizations have added to the developing sophistication of international law by the insertion of regional international law subsystems within the universal framework and the consequent evolution of rules that bind only member states the range of topics covered by International law has expanded handin hand with the upsurging difficulties faced and the proliferation in the number of participants within the system it is no longer exclusively concerned with with issues relating to the territory or jurisdiction of States narrowly understood but is beginning to take into account the specialized problems of
contemporary Society many of these have already been referred to such as the vital field of Human Rights the growth of international economic law covering financial and development matters concerned with de environmental despoliation and the space exploration effort and the exploitation of the resources of the oceans and the Deep seab bed one can also mention Provisions relating to the bureaucracy of of international institutions International administrative law international labor standards Health regulations and Communications controls many of these Trends may be seen as falling within or rather reflecting the phenomenon of globalization a term which encompasses the movement
to Greater interdependence founded upon economic Communications and cultural BAS and operating quite independently of national regulation this in turn has stimulated disputes of an almost ideological nature concerning for example the relationship between free trade and Environmental Protection to this may be added the pressures of democracy and human rights both operating to some extent as counterveiling influences to the classical emphasis upon the territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction of states it is fair to say however that the tide of globalization has retreated somewhat faced with the stresses of the pandemic resurgent nationalism and the consequences of the Ukraine
war the tremendous expansion of both the rules and the institutions of international law with the rise of more and more specialist areas such as trade law environmental law human rights law has led to arguments that international law as a holistic system is in the process of fragmentation this has led to the fear that the center will not be able to hold and that international law might disolve into a series of discrete localized or limited systems with with little or no inter relationship in many ways it is the explosion of what is termed globalization with the
consequential spread of practices and mechanisms across the world that has precipitated this problem of fragmentation being defined in one view as the emergence of specialized and relatively autonomous spheres of social action and structure this has led to a debate as to the relationship between self-contained regimes in international law and the system as a whole with the fear being expressed that the rise of specialized rules and mechanisms that have no clear Authority relationship might lead to conflicts within as between local systems and at the least inconsistency in the interpretation and development of international law while to
some extent the former is a real danger there is still a powerful centralizing dynamic in international law and indeed a strong presumption against normative Conflict for example the principle that special law Lex speciales derates from General law Lex deales so that the detail that so that the more detailed and specific rules will have priority it is also true that international law as a decentralized system has long had to face the problem of relating together a variety of rules derived from General treaties specific treaties and customary law while it is indeed the case that even with
the increase in specialist areas of international law there is is an increasing tendency to relate hither to discret spheres further while decisions of international courts and tribunals may not always be compatible there is a hierarchy of authority with the international court of justice at the summit the international law commission's report on fragmentation reached two principal conclusions first that the emergence of special treaty regimes which should not be called self-contained has not seriously undermined legal security predictability or the equality of legal subjects and second that increasing attention will have to be given to the Collision of
norms and regimes and the rules methods and techniques for dealing with such collisions international law functions in a particular concrete World System involving a range of actors from states to International organizations companies and individuals and as such needs to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of such participants the International System is composed increasingly of cooperative and compe elements participating in Cross boundary activities but the essential normative and structural nature of international law remains law is not the only way in which issues transcending borders are negotiated and settled or indeed fought over it is one
of a number of methods for dealing with an existing complex and shifting system but is is a way of some Prestige and influence for it is of its very nature in the form of mutually accepted Obligations law and politics cannot be divorced they are not identical but they do interact on several levels they are engaged in a crucial symbiotic relationship it does neither discipline a service to minimize the significance of the other thank you
