Actors in International Law:
I. States
A. Still probably the most important players in public international law.
1. only actors with sovereignty
2. only entities that
B. How Do You Define a State? According to the Montevideo Convention:
1. territory
2. people
3. government
4. capacity to enter into relations with other states (recognition)
a. de facto recognition- fact that it exists
b. de jure- right to exist
c. AY doubts whether this is a necessary condition.
d. once have the above 3, missing element is the willingness of the entity to declare itself a state.
C. How are states formed or created?
1. 3 major waves of state creation in 20th Century
a. WWI 1918-1921- breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire- creation of many Eastern European states.
(1) no remaining entity claiming to be the old one
b. after WWII 1945-1960- breakup of colonial empires.
c. 1989-1995. Breakup of old Soviet Union. Like #1, but different cause one part (Russia) has claimed to be the successor of the old
2. questions caused by state succession
a. who is responsible and obligated to treaties
b. ownership of military assets
c. difffernet theories of this:
(1) new state is a new state and doesn’t have any of the liabilities of the old state. Ie: blank slate
i) more applicable in the ‘60’s with old colonies.
ii) problem with Soviet Union, Russia said it was the succesor to the Soviet Union’s assets and treaty obligations. Many states wanted Russia to be the successor state so they could deal with it.
D. International Organizations
1. League o Nations created after WWI
a. had many of the major institutions of UN
b. big difference was that major questions re; war and peace had to be done in the gen. assembly
2. UN
a. security counsel has real teeth and can authorize the use of force if a state is attacked
b. 5 permanent members
3. Other organizatons:
a. military- ie: NATO
b. OCD- operates by consensus
4. ICJ
a. jurisdiction is only if the countries agree to be subject to it.
b. in 1949 issued an advisory opinnion re: whether the UN had a legal personality
(1) could thee UN sue on behalf of employees working for it.
(2) decided that the purposes of the UN and its ability to recruit people depended on its ability to sue. Even to sue states and non-member states.
(3) case establishes that subjects of international law, the actors, can be something other than a state
(4) organizations like UN has characteristics of states
(5) in other British case, established that cant’t go behind corporate veil and see who is behind the organization.
II. Individuals
A. Traditionally
1. nationality is very important
2. statelessness has in the past been a problem
a. all over Europe after WWII, people had lost citizenship to a st
tizen. Power of the country one is a citizen is relevant.
4. Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)
a. creates a shaming mechanism- can call a country before the committee to explain.
b. so, it has informal teeth
c. AY claims, if this had no teeth, more countries would have signed the Optional Protocol.
5. European Convention (1950)
a. has teeth: creates a court with jurisdiction
b. yes, court orders can not be enforced or defied, but, that’s the case here in the US.
c. AY claims it has as much teeth as the US courts
d. took awhile for all the states to be included.
E. Responsibilities of Individuals
1. Nuremburg trials were key in establishing these
a. established that acting on behalf of a state doesn’t immunize them
b. acting out orders doesn’t immunize them
c. at issue was whether the crimes were crimes when they were actually doing them
(1) court found that they should have known that can’t do what they did.
2. 2 Ways to Prosecute International Crimes
courts that would prosecute- UN has set up courts in certain instances (Nuremberg and after breakup of Yugoslavia)
