Contemporary Values of International Law
Lecture 1
Perspectives on the Russian Aggression in Ukraine
Exam: 3 (sub)questions totalling at 33 points
Same situation can be viewed or assessed from different perspectives:
• Realism
• Liberalism
• Marxism
• Constructivism
• Post-colonialism
• Feminism
Interplay between IR and Int’l Law:
How IR views Int’l Law: International Institution
How IR theories explain Int’l law
International Relations relevant for international law because (reading
the) law requires an understanding of the background and context
surrounding it. (e.g., Art. 31 VCLT – interpretation; object and purpose).
Purpose of IR theories:
Attempt to explain (and consequently predict) or criticize
reality
‘Sunglasses’ or lenses
Russo-Ukraine Conflict
Realist perspective – From the US: China is the sole real threat – A
passive approach towards Russian aggression would embolden
Chinese presence.
Schneider: Institutions as (or more) important than ideas
Marxism: creating a just society; revolution, uniting workers of the world;
fighting against oppression and fascism– Marxist approach could be
argued for both Ukraine’s defence (fighting against Russian oppression
and power) or to defend Russian aggression (liberating ethnic Russians in
Ukraine)
,Russia as a colonial power and decolonisation – Critical approach
Feminism: Impact/potential scenario- Women as being targets during
Russo-Ukrainian conflict (gender-based violence and sexual abuse against
women in conflict zones)
Readings Week 1 (Chapter 19-21)
Default assumption of IR towards Int’l Law: Assumes international law
less relevant/important than international politics.
View of international law as the expression of the mutual will of nations-
constructivism
Because of its historical roots, the modern institution of international law
has a number of distinctive characteristics, informed largely by the values
of political liberalism.
Institutions vs Organisations under International Law
Complexes/Frameworks of norms, rules, principles that prescribe
behavioural roles, constraints, and shape expectations.
How IR views Int’l Law: International Institution
International organisations (such as the UN) are physical entities
that have staff, head offices, and letterheads.
Note: Many institutions have an organisational dimension e.g.,
WTO- institution with organisational structure.
Institutions can exist without organisational dimension, int’l
organizations can’t exist without an institutional framework.
Levels of international institutions
Constitutional Institutions: Primary rules and norms of international
society without which society among sovereign states couldn’t exist.
The norm of sovereignty
Auxiliary norms: Right to self-determination and non-
intervention
Fundamental Institutions
Issue-specific Institutions and Regimes
,Features of the modern institution of international law
Multilateral legislation
Consent and legal obligation
Language and practice of justification
The discourse of institutional autonomy
Key constitutive legal treaties
Treaties of Westphalia: End of 30 years’ war – delimited political
rights and authority of European monarchs
Treaties of Utrecht- consolidated move to territorial sovereignty in
Europe - defined fixed territorial boundaries as reach of sovereign
authority
Treaty of Paris- end of Napoleonic wars, paved way to Congress of
Vienna and Concert of Europe (which successfully limited great
power warfare for much of 19th century and is also noteworthy as
an institution for upholding monarchical authority and combating
liberal and nationalist movements in Europe.)
Peace Treaty of Versailles – established league of nations and
specified rights and obligations of the victorious and defeated
powers following WWI
The Charter of the United Nations
Declaration on Granting Independence of Countries and Peoples-
non-binding document but signalled normative delegitimization of
European colonialism and towards establishing right of self-
determination.
Theoretical approaches to international law
Realism: sceptical view of international law; talk about ‘balance of
power’ and spheres of influence (e.g., UNGA voting pattern)
- Int’l law as primitive (Morgenthau): Absence of central authority to
legislate, adjudicate and enforce international law leads realists to doubt
whether international law is really law at all.
- International Legal Obligation is weak at best (weak sanctions
as compared to domestic law, rudimentary enforcement
, mechanisms)
- George Kennan: argued that this ‘undoubtedly represents in part an
attempt to transpose the Anglo- Saxon concept of individual law into the
international field and to make it applicable to governments as it is
applicable here at home to individuals’
Constructivism: Emphasises the (equal) importance of normative and
ideational structures as compared to material structures
- they hold that understanding how actors’ identities shape their interests
and strategies is essential to understanding their behav- iour; and they
believe that social structures are sustained only through routinized human
practices
- Broadens understanding of politics to include issues of identity, purpose,
as well as strategy, by treating rules, norms, and ideas are constitutive
and not just constraining
- Stresses importance of discourse, communication, and socialization in
framing actors’ behavior
- Has found common ground with legal theorists
- Constructivists offer resources for understanding the politics of
international law that are lacking in realist and neoliberal thought
(Reus-Smit 2004; Brunnée and Toope 2010)
- focuses on (the impact and influence) specific individual actors and
scenarios (e.g., role and importance of Zelensky as Ukraine’s leader and
the development of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict) =stands antithetical to
the realist stance of ‘power-politics’ and dominance of large world powers
- new and emerging field
Neoliberal Institutionalism: States are treated as rational egoists, law
is seen as an intervening variable between the goals of states and political
outcomes, and law is seen as a regulatory institution, not a constitutive
one that conditions states’ identities and interests (Goldstein et al. 2000).
- Initially stayed away from directly discussing int’l law;
inspiration came from economic theory rather than law
- Impact of realism during cold war: IR less provocative to
speak language of regimes and institutions than that of
international law
- Heavily influenced by rationalist theoretical commitments
