LECTURE 2 - law & international law

Question 1

RELATIONAL VS STRUCTURAL POWER

Answer 1

R:

Having power over someone or something

Having the power to make someone do something

An underlying element of coercive

Requires constant monitoring, imposition

Dependent on retention of power to impose

S: Power to set the ‘rules of the game’

Your interests are embedded once your power has declinedLimits the range of ideas that can be imagined

Does not require you to retain dominance to impose

Will stay in place until another actor has overwhelming power to rewrite

Question 2

IMPORTANCE OF LAW

Answer 2

- A formal codification of the ‘rules of the game’

• Creates clarity of what is expected and accepted

        Should result in predictability

• Establishes institutions for imposing and enforcing rules

         How are disputes to be adjudicated? 

Answers the question of who has to do what, how, and when

• Duties and rights
• Responsibilities and entitlements

Question 3

Why do we have laws?
(The high-level picture)

Answer 3

1. Maintaining public order (i.e., criminal codes, bylaws)
2. Establish political and social order (i.e., clear rules on political contest; equal rights)
3. Create economic order (i.e., contract enforceability, property rights)
4. Create moral order

Question 4

meaning of law day to day

Answer 4

• Law sets makes it clear what sort of behaviour is acceptable
• Law sets out punishments for engaging in unacceptable behaviour
• Law gives clear guidelines for transactions, interactions (contracts)
• Law establishes bodies to monitor and regulate interactions/society (Regularized assessment structures, appeals process, disciplinary hearings)
• Law grants authority to actors to take action to enforce laws

Question 5

in canada…

1. Who enforces the law?
   * Can you enforce the law yourself?
   When? How?
2. Who has the authority to enforce the law?
   *Where does the authority come from?
   *Did the blockaders in Ottawa have the
   authority?
3. Why do we enforce the law?
   * Do we need it?

Answer 5

1. ONLY police, RCMP
2. officers * Federal laws, such as the Criminal Code of Canada, outline the powers and responsibilities of law enforcement agencies and officers
   *no - they blocked the road
3. uphold the rule of law, protect citizens’ rights and safety, and maintain order in society.
   * yes

Question 6

Two central concepts for
context of international law (no ‘Emperor of the World’)

Answer 6

1. Sovereignty
   * Countries can do what
   they like within borders
2. Autonomy
   * Freedom to do what
   want within borders

Question 7

Domestic vs international authority

Answer 7

D: clear lines
- Usually well known how laws set
* Usually well known what laws are
* Usually well known how laws enforced
* Usually clarity on how to seek redress if laws
are violated, contracts broken
* State has monopoly on coercion
I: no clear lines
* There is no central international government
* States all equal actors in international order
* International system anarchical in character
* All states formally have equal voice, agency

Question 8

International vs domestic law

Answer 8

I:
* The body of rules which regulate
interaction between subjects
(states) in the international
system
* Decentralized
* Based on consent of actors
* Flexible in application and may
not depend upon precedent
D:
* The body of rules regulating
interaction between actors
within a state
* Centralized
* Imposed by coercive monopoly
of the state
* Fixed in clearly codified texts and
precedents

Question 9

International law and politics not having a central gov…

Answer 9

How do we avoid anarchy and
chaos?
* How do we manage crisis?
* Answer is in part international law
* Despite no central government,
there is a legal system which is
often followed. Why?

Question 10

power and international law

Answer 10

• Law is the formal expression of the ‘rules of the game’
  *Thus, the formation, enactment, enforcement of law
  is political
• Law is a central instrument for the conduct of
  international politics