The Yegiora Files

The international arena composes of many actors. State and non-state actors are the two important actors that operate within the boundaries of the Western-oriented international system. According to Griffiths, O’Callaghan and Roach (2008) there are two kinds of international law. One is referred to as private and other one public.     Also referred to as conflict law by Shaw (2009), private is concerned with the resolution of international disputes between individuals and companies. According to Shaw (ibid), “if two Englishmen make a contract in France to sell goods situated in Paris, an English court would apply French laws as regards the validity of that contract” .  Griffiths, O’Callaghan and Roach (2008) define public international law as laws that govern relations between states like claims for territory, use of the sea, arms control and human rights. Shaw (2009) also adds that public international law regulates the operations of the many international instit...

International law Action Vision 2050 strategic plan Sustainable Development Goals Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties To form and consolidate bilateral relations a state and its agents needs to sign various treaties.   Directional and enabling statement under international relations about increasing its bilateral relations with states and international organizations. Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for development. Capacity-building - 17.9 Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the sustainable development goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations To foster a good bilateral relations a state and its agents need to adhere t...

As defined by Oxford (2003), international law is “a set of rules generally recognize by civilized nations as governing their conduct towards each other and towards each other’s citizens” . This definition gives us a good understanding of how IR302 is connected to the program because it talks about rules governing the behaviour of nations. Apart from other strands within the program, the international relations strand is a strong strand with around 6 units. The field of international relations is defined by Goldstein (2005) as; “The relationships among the world’s state governments and the connection of those relationships with other actors (such as the United Nations, multinational corporations, and individuals), with other social relationships (including economic, culture and domestic politics), and with geographic and historical influences” (p. 556). In international relations, nations operate in an anarchic system where there is no central form of authority unlike the dome...

Sources of International law Municipal law is different to international law. One clear cut difference is the fact that sources of law at the domestic level are acts, statues or organic laws made by the legislative arm of the government. Another source is judicial case law, which refers to decisions made by the judiciary which are not outlined in any acts, statues or organic laws made by the legislature. Thus the legislature and the judiciary both have prominent roles to play in making and interpreting various laws. Sadly, that is not case in international law. There is no legislative body to make international laws and no judicial body to interpret and extend the law.  This problem stems from the anarchic nature of the international system and the competing nature of sovereign states. To better understand we go back to the Westphalian principle of legal equality, no state is more powerful than the other hence anarchy and unavoidable competition. Goldstein’s explanati...

The globalization debate is unending. In hindsight, as a process it has occurred significantly throughout history. What is different about this new paradigm of globalization? Is it because of the triumph of liberalism? This article will try to elaborate further by comparing the different articles by Fukuyama, Huntington and Higgott in an attempt to answer both questions. In Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History” he was very critical when he talked about the triumph of economic and political liberalism. He saw that mankind was at the end of the road in terms of the ideological warfare. There was no anti-thesis to liberalism after its defeat of Fascism and Communism. On the contrary, when analyzing the concept of history as a dialectical process coined by Hegel, ideas define and drive the material world. In other words, evolution began with ideas, the human mind which produces the ideas is fallible (prone to imperfections). This fallibility of the human mind means that the newe...