PUBLIC INT’L LAW BACKGROUNDER Prof David K. Linnan USC LAW # 783 Unit One

NATURE OF SYSTEM NATURE OF SYSTEM, IS IT ABOUT STATES VERSUS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS? WHO OR WHAT CAN MAKE A CLAIM, AND WHERE? IS THERE A PERMANENT JUDICIAL BODY WITH MANDATORY JURISDICTION AKA WORLD COURT? IS THERE A CENTRAL ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY AKA SHERIFF? WHO “MAKES” THE LAW AKA LEGISLATURE? [Wonder how to distinguish “international” from “comparative” law, see

IS IT REALLY LAW? Is int’l law really law? Divine order/law Secular natural law Sovereignty and positivism Jurisprudential arguments [ Off the record ] Off the record [How does int’l law look like from the perspective of an “exotic” legal system to us or others, see & &

DIFFERING APPROACHES (1) Differing approaches floating around past 100 years (like styles of constitutional law) 1.Traditional law between nations (state centered, hidden sovereignty ideas) [Off the record]Off the record 2.Human rights law post WW II (individual rights ideas, but also issues social & economic versus political & civil rights, natural law reborn?) [Off the record]Off the record

DIFFERING APPROACHES (2) Differing approaches floating around past 100 years (like styles of constitutional law)(cont’d) 3.Increasing emphasis on multilateral organizations (League of Nations 1919, UN Charter 1945, structural issues of independent organizational life versus member political control and obligations/rights distinctions) [Off the record]Off the record 4.Changing int’l scene introducing different groups of states and views (e.g., Socialist states, ex-colonies) [Off the record]Off the record

DIFFERING APPROACHES (3) Differing approaches floating around past 100 years (like styles of constitutional law)(cont’d) 5.Increasing legalization of numerous areas like international economic law (EU, NAFTA, GATT/WTO, IMF, World Bank) or environmental law, “third generation” human rights law in terms of youth, gender, sustainable development, etc. [Off the record]Off the record 6.Increasing judicialisation attempted (e.g., ICC and Rome Treaty, ad hoc tribunals for Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda) [Off the record]Off the record

DIFFERING APPROACHES (4) Differing approaches floating around past 100 years (like styles of constitutional law)(cont’d) 7.Media & pressure groups (NGOs) increasingly try to affect int’l behavior often through the domestic political process [ Off the record ] Off the record 8.Int’l relations cross-over into politics (e.g., hegemon-speak, battles of civilizations, preemptive war doctrines) [ Off the record ] Off the record

DIFFERING APPROACHES (5) Differing approaches floating around past 100 years (like styles of constitutional law)(cont’d) 9.Intellectual attempts at recasting into self-enforcing structure (e.g., Draft Code on State Responsibility) [Off the record]Off the record

SOVEREIGNTY What is sovereignty, and what are its pluses and minuses conceptually (e.g., self-preservation and preemptive war post-9/11)?

INTERDEPENDENCE Communalism and economic interdependence are currently trendy, what about them (community of nations, etc. as alleged European view post 9/11)?

DISTRIB. JUSTICE Where do development, distributional justice and path dependency fit (UN Charter & economic prosperity’s failure from a developing country perspective)?

SOURCES OF LAW Traditional Sources Doctrine 1.Treaty (agreement) 2.Customary law (persistent behavior & opinio juris) 3.General principles 4.Publicists’ opinions

PLAYERS & APPROACHES (1) Who are the players pushing different sources approaches and why under 1.Traditional law of nations 2.Human rights 3.Multilateral organizations 4.Differing groups of states 5.Mushrooming econ & environ law

PLAYERS & APPROACHES (2) Who are the players pushing different sources approaches and why under (cont’d) 6.Judicialisation 7.NGOs 8.Int’l relations views 9.Self-enforcing structures (state responsibility)

FOREIGN COLLEAGUES Who are the Indonesians? Why talk about int’l law with foreigners? How do we do the videoconferencing? What is the streaming material for in terms of class preparation? Connection with the readings? Course page at How do we do problems & presentations in class? LFIP