POL340Y1 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - International Law, Positivism, Natural Law
POL340Y1
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
International law regulates the conduct of affairs between sovereign states
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Body of customs / treaties that governs states
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Conventional definition of IR:
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Still federal
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Can't go against Empire
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Treaty of Westphalia preserved system
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Sovereign state idea really only emerged out of breakdown of Empiric system
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Ex: Carthaginians and North Africans
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If you only recognize IR as following sovereign states, will only begin at the
commencement of sovereign states (17-18th centuries) --> limit your own
studies from the start
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Why not a sovereign state?
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Had territory
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Borders changed quite a bit
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Defined peoples
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Ancient Egypt
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Treaties (written)
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State practice - behave that way
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Opino juris - belief that we behave that way because we should
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Customary international law (becomes law because people behaved X way
for so long)
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Sources of international law
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States aspiring for sovereign status
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Sovereignty is fundamentally Christian-European
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Failure
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Exportation of Western ideas
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Are sovereign states all that great?
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Terrorists aren't sovereign states
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How to deal with?
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Terrorism
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1. Introduction to Course / History of International
Law
September 10, 2018
6:00 PM
LECTURE Page 1
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Similar to Charter of Rights and Freedoms
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Signatories are responsible for implementation
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ICCR - international treaty
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Similar to notwithstanding clause
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No emergency provision
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Only to be used in national emergency
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Violation of ICCR
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International legal fight
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Notwithstanding clause
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Code that governs relations between sovereign states
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This is wrong
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Nation and a state may not be the same thing
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Shift away from groups that were traditionally organized along
nation-like lines to modern drawing of borders
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Can be citizen but not national of a country
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Assets
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Connections
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Nationality = to what state/country do you have a strong nexus /
connection to
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Citizenship = domestic law
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Law of nations and international law often conflated, treated as the same
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International law must matter since we see leaders observing them
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Ex Iraq
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Efforts to justify efforts
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Reasonable standard
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Reasonable state - treat like humans, aggregate of humans
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Some possibility of cooperation but only so far as self-interest
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Realist
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State is not the centre of IR
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Domestic constituencies at central part of system
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Countries / states are by product of central constituencies
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State's preferences are aggregation of domestic preferences
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Liberals
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Share norms / understandings
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Social construction
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Constructivists
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Process that matters, how we come to understandings
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Process matters because process affects decision maker
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Once you enter into the process, system starts to affect you back
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International law is not an independent variable
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Once you engage in social process, you acknowledge IL
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Took power out of the equation
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How things ought to be
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Differences between IR and IL theorists
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States
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Have independent powers from states
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Ex: UN, IMF (macro, currency), WTO, WHO (umbrella of UN),
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International organization
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Characters of international law
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International law theory
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2. The Nature and Purpose of International Law
September 17, 2018
6:00 PM
LECTURE Page 1
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Fall 2018: introduction to course / history of international. International law regulates the conduct of affairs between sovereign states. Body of customs / treaties that governs states. Sovereign state idea really only emerged out of breakdown of empiric system. If you only recognize ir as following sovereign states, will only begin at the commencement of sovereign states (17-18th centuries) --> limit your own studies from the start. Customary international law (becomes law because people behaved x way for so long) Opino juris - belief that we behave that way because we should. Lecture page 1: the nature and purpose of international law. Law of nations and international law often conflated, treated as the same. Nation and a state may not be the same thing. Shift away from groups that were traditionally organized along nation-like lines to modern drawing of borders. Can be citizen but not national of a country.
