International Law and the Siren Song
Sam Aurelius Milam III
International
Law exists in many levels of formality, from tradition and customary practice
through treaties and formal declarations. It deals with all of the
relationships between nations, including extradition; ambassadors
and diplomacy; grievances and redress; 
self-defense;
rules of war, including treatment of combatants, prisoners, non-combatants,
and civilians; rules of blockades, seizures, captures at sea, and
ransoms; rules of neutrality; sieges; rules of international
waters; piracy; trade; international boundaries;
and national sovereignty. It is broad in scope and complex in substance.
It has never been written down all in one place, and probably never will
be.
The
roots of International Law are lost in antiquity but it has always been
founded on considerations of the nature and consequences of national sovereignty.
One generally accepted consequence of national sovereignty has been the
understanding that interference in the internal affairs of another nation
is inappropriate. It is that aspect of International Law that has
changed most profoundly in recent decades, and which most urgently demands
our attention.
In
modern times, a kind of evangelism has increasingly influenced the relationships
between nations. Using such concerns as "genocide", "ethnic cleansing",
"crimes against humanity", and "war crimes", reformers have promoted the
idea that national sovereignty should be subordinated to the protection
of "human rights". To implement their belief, they have promoted
the idea of an "international community", a new euphemism for the age-old
desire of evangelists to reform the behavior of other people. That
idea is now being used to justify intrusions by powerful nations and powerful
alliances of nations into the domestic affairs of weaker nations, under
the auspices of the international community and in the name of human rights.
As a consequence, there are now various international agencies, courts,
and tribunals, permanent and temporary, which claim jurisdictions over
domestic matters within nations. The jurisdictions are often imposed
by force or coercion, whether or not the nations subjected to them have
actually consented to them.
Such
a fundamental departure from traditional international relations suggests
a pervasive ignorance of International Law. In that regard consider
that, in the 1889 edition of Bouvier's
Law Dictionary, the description of International Law was 3028 words
in length and included 15 references to other sources in history or literature.
Ninety years later, the description of International Law in the 1979 edition
of Black's Law Dictionary was 30 words in length and didn't include any
references at all. It's little wonder that International Law has
become a tool of convenience for reformers.
The
advertised advantages of the international community lure the unwary, like
a Siren Song. However, the result will not be international harmony.
It will be a one-world tyranny. Granted, the behavior of nations
is abominable. However, the answer to that behavior isn't the creation
of a single, huge, all-powerful one-world tyranny. The answer is
the reduction of the powers of existing nations and, thereby, the reduction
of their ability to do harm. International Law provides a tool whereby
the impending one-world tyranny might be stopped. If we can manage
that, then we can continue the job of reducing the powers of existing nations.
| frontiersman@ida.net | Frontiersman,
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July 2002
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