Page 190 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

international law 1009

Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to
injustice makes democracy necessary. • Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971)

Twenty-five nations attended the 1899 Hague Confer- mulate a law that could be acceptable to all, conceivably
ence, which was convened by Czar Nicholas II of Russia, even to “infidels.”
and a larger number ratified the documents produced by
the meeting, which included conventions governing the Monism vs. Dualism
conduct of warfare and the peaceful settlement of dis- Another continuing issue has been whether international
putes. Although European nations dominated these ne- law is incorporated into national legal systems, and is
gotiations, nineteen Latin American nations signed or thus part of the law applied by national courts
ratified one or more of the documents, as did China, (“monism”), or whether it is a separate and distinct legal
Japan, Korea, Persia, Siam, and Turkey. system governing nations but not accessible by normal
The 1907 Hague Conference, called again by the citizens in disputes in domestic courts (“dualism”).
Russian Czar Nicholas II upon the urging of Theodore
Roosevelt, produced additional conventions designed to The Continuing Challenges
limit the scourge of warfare.The European nations again of a Divided World
dominated the negotiations, but eighteen Latin American After World War I, the League of Nations was established
nations signed or ratified one or more of the conventions and served to promote dialogue and negotiations, but its
(Honduras was missing), as did China, Japan, Persia, efforts to stop the continuing imperialistic activities of
Siam, and Turkey (with Korea missing because it had be- some nations were unsuccessful and the world again en-
come a protectorate of Japan). Liberia also adhered to gaged in massive slaughters in World War II. The 1928
many of the conventions. Kellogg-Briand Pact, which outlawed the recourse to war,
did not stop warfare, but it at least has required countries
Natural Law vs. Positive Law to come up with some justification for armed conflict,
The nature of the evolving international legal system with “self-defense” being the most common excuse.
was described by many as one of consent—or “posi- The United Nations was established in 1945, and
tivism”—wherein only those norms agreed upon by the nations of the world have entered into numerous
states could be enforced against them. But perhaps additional bilateral and multilateral treaties since then
because of the theocracies that had governed many on subjects ranging from economic affairs to the law of
parts of Europe in previous centuries, the Canon law the sea to human rights to arms control.The U.N. Secu-
that had developed during that period, and the religious rity Council, with 15 members, including 5 permanent
fervor that still burned brightly for many others, con- members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom,
tended that certain inherent principles also governed and the United States) that can veto any resolution, has
nations.Tension emerged between this “natural law” for- the responsibility to deal with threats to the peace and
mula as the basis of international law and the perspec- breaches of the peace.The General Assembly, now with
tive of “positivism” promoted by others, and this tension 190 members, serves as a forum for discussion and
still exists today. annually enacts a wide range of resolutions addressing
The Dutch diplomat Hugo de Groot, who wrote four global problems.The International Court of Justice sits
hundred years ago under the Latin name Grotius, is in The Hague, Netherlands, and decides cases brought
often called the father or founder of international law to it by governments. Numerous more specialized tri-
because he tried to reconcile natural and positive law. bunals have also been created.
His analysis of the laws of war, the law of the sea, and Regional organizations have been created in almost all
the protection owed to diplomats laid the framework for areas of the world, with the European Union and other
modern thinking on these topics. He believed that a “law European organizations being particularly effective in ad-
of nature” could be deduced by logical reasoning, rather dressing regional issues and reducing tensions among
than by resort to divine sources, and thus tried to for- nations. Many in the developing and non-Eurocentric