International Law 2008 - ASIL Leaders' Views
Council Comments
José E. Alvarez
Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Columbia University,
President, American Society of International Law
Although many international law issues -- from abiding by the Torture Convention to addressing climate change -- come to mind, these are the "low-hanging" fruit for a future Administration that merely seeks to restore our standing as a law-abiding nation. But the single greatest international law challenge likely to face the next Administration will be how to reconceptualize what constitute real "threats to the peace" and "self defense" in ways that recognize the expansive nature of today's "threats" to human security and the severe limitations of attempting to address such threats only through the use of unilateral or multilateral military force. If past is prologue, the lawyers of the next Administration will need to be far more creative in dealing with such very real (but vastly disparate) threats as the potential use of WMDs by non-state actors and the continuing prospect of intra-state conflicts enflamed by economic deprivation and environmental degradation. The answers so far provided by a state-centric international legal system whose capstone remains a hegemonic and anachronistic Security Council are not likely to satisfy those seeking a world that is both law-abiding and fair.
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