Role of International Law in a Unipolar World: Disparity between enforcement and existence of obligations

Abstract

Traditionally international law and hegemonic powers are considered irreconcilable. According to many critics, hegemonic powers are reluctant to obey the rules of international law. In such a scenario the international legal system seems to be more helpless and its implementation and the validity will be dubious. Therefore, the enforcement of international law in a unipolar international system will be more controversial and is affected by hegemonic powers. It will also explore both positive and negative features of the execution of international law in international system of hegemonic powers. The idea of instrumentalization sees dominant states in the unipolar system as a driving force of the development of international law. Further it explains how dominant state positively impact on the stability of the international legal order. In the 16th century Spain was a prominent example to show that hegemonic power has contributed to rules on territorial acquisition. On the other hand, hegemonic powers tend to withdraw from international law. Moreover hegemonic powers are reluctant to accept the norms and obligations under international law. Therefore it is imperative to study how international law can be implemented with obligations in a uni-polar world. Concurrently, the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations clearly states that its objective is ? to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of International Law can be maintained?. Therefore, it is obvious that, protection of International law is one of the primary goals of the United Nations. The main objective of this research paper is to provide a deeper insight in to the role of international law in the unipolar world by analyzing the disparity between the enforcement and existence of obligations. Further this study intends to examine the salient features of the current international law system. The archival study would deal with a wider range of primary and secondary sources which draw the European Union, United Nations Law codes. Moreover, this research would conclude with an assessment of the role of international law in the Unipolar World.