International law is defined as the customs, norms, principles, and rules that establish binding obligations among states and other international actors. There are four main sources of international law: conventions, treaties, customs, and general principles recognized by states. However, international law has weaknesses including vague obligations from treaties, lack of an effective legal system for enforcement, and powerful states' ability to ignore laws that conflict with their interests. Nonetheless, international law still has enduring value by shaping state identities and norms, and states usually comply due to self-interest, identity, or possibility of reprisals.

1. International Law
Meaning. Sources. Weakness.
Enduring Value.

2. The Meaning of International Law
• Defining international law:
– The customs, norms, principles, rules and
other legal relations among states and other
international legal personality that establish
binding obligations.
– A body of rules which binds states and other
agents in world politics with one another.

3. Sources of International Law
• Sources:
1. Conventions and treaties
2. International customs
3. Generally recognized principles of law
4. International judicial decisions, writing of
recognized scholars and treatises.

4. Weakness of International Law
• Vague and conflicting obligations—
largely the result of importance of
treaties and conventions
• No effective legal system
1. Lack of compulsory jurisdiction
a. International Court of Justice
b. Optional Clause
2. Absence of judicial hierarchy

5. Weakness of International Law
• Law and Power
1. Powerful states able to ignore law when
it conflicts with their interests
2. Law itself is often a reflection of power
and interests

6. The Enduring Value of International
Law
• False lessons of spectacular failures
1. Example: Kellogg-Briand Pact
2. Need realistic vision of what international
law can and cannot accomplish
3. Positive v. normative law traditions

7. The Enduring Value of International
Law
• States usually abide by international law
1.Identitive compliance
2.Utilitarian compliance
3.Coercive compliance (possibility of
reprisals)
• Liberalism and international law:
embodying shared values
• Constructivism and international law:
shaping norms and identities

8. Conclusion
International Law, neither an irrelevancy
nor panacea.