Dichotomy Between International Law and Domestic Law

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The key question addressed is the dichotomy between domestic and international laws and the reasoning of these disparities. This essay will also elucidate reasons that realist standpoint on international law are valid.
Firstly, subjects of the law; generally the subjects of the international law are states which may hold and exercise rights while citizens are known as the subjects for the domestic law. Essentially, legal personality who has rights and duties under international law or national law should be taken into consideration. Paradigm has shifted such as Corporations and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also seen as gaining legal personality or having influences on states’ actions in international sphere. Citizens or individuals have also become subject of international law especially in human rights law and international criminal laws. For instance, individual will held accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (Slaughter, 2004).
Secondly, responsibility for wrongful conducts; collective responsibilities will happen in the international law which was portrayed as primitive. For instance, economic sanctions imposed on Africa during apartheid and on North Korea, all citizens may too have to suffer for the authoritarian leaders. This is not the case for domestic one as individual shall be punished for the misconduct (Gaskarth, 2012).
Thirdly, level of centralization of legal functions; centralized versus decentralized is critical to comprehend the divergence. In the international sphere, there are no supreme governments and/or anarchic system prevails and hence horizontal structure exists. Thus, it is challenging to enforce the law. Either by collective actions or individual actions such a...

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...: 431-453.

Herstein, Ori J. "A Legal Right to Do Legal Wrong." Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (2013): gqt022.

Hathaway, Oona, and Scott J. Shapiro. "Outcasting: enforcement in domestic and international law." Yale Lj 121 (2011): 350.

Kapucu, Naim. "Collaborative governance in international disasters: Nargis cyclone in Myanmar and Sichuan earthquake in China cases." International Journal of Emergency Management 8, no. 1 (2011): 1-25.

Mattei, Ugo, and Boris N. Mamlyuk. "Comparative International Law." Brooklyn Journal of International Law 36, no. 2011 (2011): 385-452.

Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich. "JIEL Debate: Methodological Pluralism and its Critics in International Economic Law Research." Journal of International Economic Law 15, no. 4 (2012): 921-970.

Slaughter, Anne-Marie. "Sovereignty and power in a networked world order." Stan. J. Int'l L. 40 (2004): 283.

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