scholarly journals The Decline of International Law as a Normative Ideal

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 627
Author(s):  
Shirley V Scott
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Strategic Option ◽  
Dominant State ◽  
The Ideal

International law was integral to the rise in power of the United States and has been central to the operation of world politics during the period in which the United States has been the dominant state. This article draws on the theory of International Law as Ideology to explain the manner in which the ideal of international law as politically neutral has served as a rhetorical fulcrum. The theory also offers a framework within which to perceive and assess the significance of an apparent sidelining of the ideal in global politics, including, notably, by the United States. While reduced use of the ideology of international law and introduction of the term "rules-based international order" or "rules-based order" might be the best strategic option at a time of declining power, the theory of International Law as Ideology illuminates the manner in which these developments may at the same time be unwittingly contributing to that decline.

The ICJ and Compulsory Jurisdiction: The Case for Closing the Clause

1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary L. Scott ◽  
Craig L. Carr
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Evolving System ◽  
The Icj ◽  
The Ideal

The refusal of the United States to consider itself bound by the recent decision in the Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua, coupled with the earlier termination of its adherence to Article 36(2) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, has sparked a small storm of controversy and concern. Part of this concern involves how the United States, presumably a law-abiding and law-respecting nation, could possibly bring itself to snub the International Court of Justice and, by extension, the ideal of international law. Another part of this concern involves the likely consequences of the United States move on the vitality of the Court as the focal institution of a slowly evolving system of international law. A less obvious concern, but arguably one of paramount importance, calls into question the wisdom of insisting that the ICJ retain its optional compulsory jurisdiction. It is this less obvious concern that we propose to discuss here.

Allied but Deviating NATO in the Multipolar World

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-586
Author(s):  
Ferit Murat Ozkaleli ◽  
Ali Gunes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ideal Point ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Point Estimates ◽  
External Threat ◽  
The Ideal

Abstract “How long can NATO last in a post-US hegemonic, multipolar world?” has become an important question in contemporary world politics. By statistically analyzing NATO alliance cohesion since its inception, this analysis contributes to the literature by developing an original set of indicators that rely on the ideal point estimates from a recent UN General Assembly voting dataset. It empirically verifies that NATO members have higher cohesion than other UN members, although the United States has been the most significant deviating member since 1980. The findings support some earlier proposals such as the external threat hypothesis. They also contradict some others, notably the literature on the Donald Trump administration’s withdrawal doctrine, and the decline of US hegemony and its policy implications. The article concludes that the future challenge for NATO cohesion not only would be the possibility of US abdication or abandonment, but also other members’ balancing the United States as the hegemon.

Exit from Hegemony

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Cooley ◽  
Daniel Nexon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International System ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Political Principles

We live in a period of uncertainty about the fate of American global leadership and the future of international order. The 2016 election of Donald Trump led many to pronounce the death, or at least terminal decline, of liberal international order—the system of institutions, rules, and values associated with the American-dominated international system. But the truth is that the unraveling of American global order began over a decade earlier. Exit from Hegemony develops an integrated approach to understanding the rise and decline of hegemonic orders. It calls attention to three drivers of transformation in contemporary order. First, great powers, most notably Russia and China, contest existing norms and values while simultaneously building new spheres of international order through regional institutions. Second, the loss of the “patronage monopoly” once enjoyed by the United States and its allies allows weaker states to seek alternative providers of economic and military goods—providers who do not condition their support on compliance with liberal economic and political principles. Third, transnational counter-order movements, usually in the form of illiberal and right-wing nationalists, undermine support for liberal order and the American international system, including within the United States itself. Exit from Hegemony demonstrates that these broad sources of transformation—from above, below, and within—have transformed past international orders and undermine prior hegemonic powers. It provides evidence that all three are, in the present, mutually reinforcing one another and, therefore, that the texture of world politics may be facing major changes.

The Grammar of Criminal Law

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
George P. Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Order ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Future

This book is an invitation to readers interested in the future of international cooperation to master the 12 basic dichotomies of international criminal law. The book foresees a growing interest in international order and cooperation following the current preoccupation, in Europe as well as the United States, with national self-interest. By emphasizing basic dichotomies, for example, acts vs. omissions and causation vs. background conditions, the book reinforces the jurisprudential foundations of international criminal law and also provides an easy way to master the details of the field.

The Decline of the Liberal Global Order and the Revival of Nationalism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yale H. Ferguson ◽  
Richard W. Mansbach
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Global Organizations ◽  
Obama Administration ◽  
Us Hegemony ◽  
National Populism

This chapter addresses the erosion of the postwar liberal global order and the accompanying disorder in global politics. It describes the perceptions of declining US hegemony during the Obama administration of American decline and the return of geopolitical and economic rivalries that are undermining the liberal order. The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 in the United States was the most significant manifestation of national populism that has emerged in recent years in Europe and elsewhere. The profile of supporters of national populism are much the same globally. They oppose so-called elites and immigrants (especially minorities) whom they blame for the loss of manufacturing jobs. After defining national populism, the chapter describes how it fosters isolationism and malignant nationalism and focuses on national interests rather than global cooperation. Such policies threaten the movement of goods and people, multinational global organizations, and the postwar order in which globalization thrives.

The End of Empire and the Search for Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Linarelli ◽  
Margot E Salomon ◽  
Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Economic ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Order ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology ◽  
First Time

This chapter is a study of the themes of the New International Economic Order (NIEO). It begins with the notion of justice that had been constructed in imperial law to justify empire and colonialism. The NIEO was the first time a prescription was made for justice in a global context not based on domination of one people over another. In its consideration of the emergence of a new notion of justice in international law, the chapter discusses the reasons for the origins of the NIEO, and goes on to describe the principles of the NIEO and the extent to which they came into conflict with dominant international law as accepted by the United States and European states. Next the chapter deals with the rise of the neoliberal ideology that led to the displacement of the NIEO and examines the issue of whether the NIEO and its ideals have passed or whether they continue to be or should be influential in international law. Finally, the chapter turns to the ideas of the NIEO alongside new efforts at promoting a fuller account of justice by which to justify and evaluate international law.

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