The Role of International Law in the Conduct of International Affairs
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| Author | Wolfgang Friedmann |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000202 |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Role
of
International
Law
in
the
Conduct
of
International
Affairs
Wolfgang
Friedmann*
A
quarter
of
a
century
ago,
Philip
Jessup,
surveying
the
reality
of
international
law
at
the
outbreak
of
the
Second World
War,
concluded
that
"impotent
to restrain
a
great
nation
which
has
no
decent
respect
for the
opinion
of
mankind,
failing
in
its
severest
test
of
serving
as
a
substitute for
war,
international
law
plods
on
its
way,
followed
automatically
in
routine
affairs,
in-
voked,
flouted,
codified,
flouted
again
but
yet
again
invoked."
' 1
Twenty-five
years
later,
the
question
of
the
place
of
inter-
national
law in
contemporary
world
affairs
is
no
less
urgent,
but
the
structure
of
the
international
society
has
changed
dras-
tically.
Three
basic
aspects
of
the
postwar
world
distinguish
it
above all
from
any
previous
phase
of
human
history.
One
is
the
development
of
modern
science,
technology
and communications
to
a
point
where,
for
the
first
time
in
history,
the
pursuit
of
major
wars
can
no
longer
be
regarded
as
the
ultimate
instrument
of
national
policy.
For
the
major
powers
at
least, the
scale
of
swift
and
mutual
destruction
so
far
exceeds
possible
gains
that
the
function
of
military
preparedness
has
essentially
become
an
insurance
policy
against
the
occurrence
of
a
major
war,
rather
than
a
ready
instrument for the
pursuit
of such
a
war
for the
attainment
of
national
objectives.
The
very
magnitude
of
the
power
of
destruction
now
at
the
disposal
of
the
major
states
has
tended
to
restrain
them
from
engaging
themselves
directly
and
fully,
and
to
shift the
danger
of
war
to
the
many
medium
and
smaller
states,
which
are
less
burdened
by
the
responsibility
of
the
power
of
nuclear
destruction,
and
more
inclined
to
pursue
their
national
objectives
by
traditional
methods.
The
danger
that
such,
originally
limited,
wars may
escalate
into
major
con-
flagrations
is
one
of
the
chief
problems
in
the
maintenance
of
peace
and
the
organization
of
international security.
*
School
of
Law,
Columbia
University.
1
"The
Reality
of
International
Law",
Foreign
Affairs,
Vol.
18,
p.
244
ff.
To continue reading
Request your trial