Description
International law has long been accepted as law. But international law’s status as law is insufficient to instantiate a moral obligation on its subjects to obey it. This paper seeks to provide a philosophical justification for international political obligation. It develops an ideal paradigm of the ‘international cooperative community’, a recognition by states of their mutual interdependence for the ascertainment of their fundamental normative function: to protect and promote the interests of those committed to their care. From a recognition of this duty, a secondary duty to the citizens of other states can emerge. When states have respect for their own citizens and the citizens of other states, the principle of fair play can operate within the international cooperative community, and consequently ground a moral obligation to obey international law. Whilst the principle of fair play is explored and defended from the ideal of the international cooperative community, the paper concludes by arguing that due to the contemporary calibration of the international system, states currently do not, for the most part, have a political obligation to obey international law.
