The ethics of state consent to international law

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13008751
AutoresCarmen E Pavel (0000-0001-6683-0638, King's College London, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen15
Número1
Páginas85-110
Fecha de publicación2025-06-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGlobal Constitutionalism (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2045-3817 • E-ISSN: 2045-3825
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s2045381725100026
OpenAlexW4411739729
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas51

State consent is the primary mechanism by which international legal rules are generated and amended and by which states undertake legal obligations. The focus on state consent is celebrated for its strong protection of state sovereignty and for expressing the will of states. The main purpose of this article is to raise some doubts about this understanding of the value of state consent. I argue that far from protecting state sovereignty, unrestricted state consent can undermine it. I show that it is false to think that the virtually unlimited freedom to act protected by state consent safeguards state sovereignty in an environment in which every other state possesses the same unlimited freedom to act. I suggest one possible way of reconceiving state consent in line with existing trends in international law to increase the scope of nonconsensual mechanisms for making international legal rules

Alternative medicine · Informed consent · Political science · State (computer science · Environmental law and policy · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Mathematics · Medicine