Importance Of Compliance To International Law

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Compliance to International Law

International Law (IL) is “a body of principles, customs, standards, and rules recognized as effectively binding obligations by sovereign states in their mutual relations.” International Law presents the rights and obligations for all its actors, like the states, intergovernmental international organizations (IGOs), and non-state actors, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Multinational corporations (MNCs), and even individuals. IL covers a wide range of issues that are considered significant on the international scale, depending on the actor or actors it concerns. In International Law there is no centralized coercive power that facilitates cooperation and compliance among the actors. Even with this reality, most nations respect and comply with International Law. This leads us to question: with numerous high-stake issues and with no reliable source to enforce IL amongst the many actors, how does International Law induce compliance? There are many …show more content…

Scholars of different theories will debate on which condition is more important than the other, but no one condition is sufficient to induce compliance. When explaining why states and other actors comply to IL when there is nothing in IL that is truly binding, the best explanation is a synthesis of the many theories and what conditions that are required to facilitate compliance. Hence, states compliance to International Law is factored by key conditions, such as moral and self-interest basis, to garner legitimacy, the expectation of reciprocity, the respect of law, and domestic pressure. Through a synthesis of the many lenses of International Law, we can look at IL more clearly and explain why states comply to IL in the absence of a centralized enforcement

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