- Prelims: Current events of international importance, Covid-19, WTO, Russia-Ukraine war, G20 etc
- Mains GS Paper II: Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements involving India or affecting India’s interests, Important international institutions etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- Hilary Charlesworth(judge at the International Court of Justice): described international law as “a discipline of crisis”.
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
United Nations Charter:
- The Charter of the United Nations is the founding document of the United Nations.
- It was signed on 26 June 1945, and came into force on 24 October 1945.
- The UN Charter is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.
- The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.
Issue with the Charter:
- The U.N. Charter has succeeded in ensuring that the world does not fight another world war, it has failed in stopping inter-state wars.
- Example: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
World post-World War II:
- Bipolar world with great power competition between a ‘capitalist’ America and a ‘communist’ Soviet Union.
- The end of the Cold War led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism.
- Relative harmony: This ‘unipolar’ moment gave a leg-up to multilateralism and led to “relative harmony” among the major powers.
Actions that were not criticized as against UN charter:
- NATO bombed Kosovo and the Western forces invaded Iraq in complete disregard to the U.N. Charter.
- S.-led military actions were not criticized as an international response as the Russian invasion of Ukraine did.
Outcome of relative harmony:
- Spread of democracy
- Greater acceptance of universal human rights
- Global consensus for maintaining international rule of law with multilateral institutions
- Independent international courts acting as referees.
Threat due to multipolar world:
- Securitisation of international law.
- The major powers are at each other’s throats.
- Dwindling of the ‘liberal’ and ‘capitalist’ West
- Rise of an ‘autocratic’ China and ‘expansionist’ Russia.
How is International law seen by world powers?
- China views law as an instrument in the service of the state.
- Rule of law theory in liberal democracies: law’s function is to constrain unbridled state power.
- Chinese and Russian versions: believe in gaming international law for national interests.
- Under the Chinese and Russian versions, the territorial integrity of nations and the sovereignty of states doesn’t quite matter.
- The Russian approach towards international law believes that the basis of international law is not universal but cultural and civilisational distinctness.
- The Russian vision of international law, in complete violation of the UN Charter,
- Distinguishes between countries that are truly sovereign and countries that possess nominal or limited sovereignty, such as Ukraine.
Challenges in International economic law:
- Protectionism: Concomitant spread of economic protectionism.
- The rise of China and its desperation to ensure its continued hegemony.
- Washington is fast backtracking on the neoliberal consensus of interdependence and non-discrimination in international economic law
- Adoption of the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S: It aims to transition to clean energy by providing massive industrial subsidies to domestic American companies.
- The U.S. rejected the World Trade Organization (WTO) panel reports that held the U.S.’s protectionist industrial policies as national security objectives illegal.
- The U.S. has strangled the WTO’s effective dispute settlement mechanism by blocking the appointment of the Appellate Body members.
Challenge of populists in International law:
- International law, in the populist scheme of things, is reduced to a mere law of coordination.
- The law of coordination is only to ensure a minimal relationship between countries with common ideational moorings.
- Populists also attack international institutions and international courts and prevent them from pursuing the interests of the ‘pure’ people they claim to represent.
- They enact domestic laws to protect the ethnic identity of the ‘pure’ people even if these laws undermine international law.
Way Forward
- International law in 2023: It will continue to face challenges from populist and ethno-nationalist regimes in several countries such as Hungary, Turkey, Poland, and Israel.
- S. Chimni: A crisis in international law will exist if the phenomenon of imperialism is not addressed.
- James Crawford: crises occur in international law because of “the absence of any constitutional order, other than constitutional order of States”.
- International community must fight back against the relentless assaults posed by securitisation, populism, and protectionism on core universal values that international law enshrines
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
Q. How will I2U2 (India, Israel, UAE and USA) grouping transform India’s Position in global politics ? (UPSC 2022) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
