Is International Law Really Law

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“It has been argued that international law is not real law, but rather a moral code of conduct, depending on the goodwill of nations and their voluntary compliance for its success offailure.” There are many different types of law like domestic law, which is enforced to monitor the lives of the citizens, issued and created by the government; with that said the reason international law is disagreed on as a real law is because the fact that there is no government or any kind of legal supervision to enforce international law. The objection on international law not being a real law can be due to many reasons, one of the main reasons being the fact that it lacks the mechanism of enforcement. To show a better understanding on how international law is poor at enforcing it but how law actually works even without the enforcement needed, here is an example: picture a mother telling her kids not to eat, or take the cookies without permission before dinner. So the “law” here is not to eat the cookies without permission. There are a few reasons as to why the kids would follow the rule. First one being the fear of punishment, and the other being the fact that it’s a bad thing to take the cookies without their mother’s permission; having the understanding of the fact that it’s a bad thing to do therefore; they will follow the rule. Firstly, the kids will follow the “law” because they understand the consequences but, they will also follow the rule even if their mother is not around. So, the kids will obey their mother regardless she is in supervision or not, because they understand and are used to the fact that it is a bad thing to eat the cookies without having their mother’s permission. Similar to how it makes it easier for the kids to listen to their mom and have an understanding of the consequences of their actions, this kind of cooperativeness to follow the rules can be

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