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81 Mod. L. Rev. 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/modlr81 and id is 1 raw text is: THE MODERN LAW REVIEW Volume 81 January 2018 No. 1 The Current Political Discourse Concerning International Law James Crawford* Reading current statements of world leaders on subjects relevant to international law is liable to cause confusion, even distress to those for whom the 1945 regulatory arrangements, as completed in the post-Cold War era, have become the norm. On occasions international law is invoked, but in what seems an increasingly antagonistic way, amounting often to a dialogue of the deaf. At other times it is apparently or even transparently ignored. This touches many of the arrangements governments spent the preceding period seeking to establish. Is there a pattern to all this, and how should we respond? How susceptible is the edifice of international law to such rhetoric? These issues are examined in the context of the law of withdrawal from treaties. Three recent high profile examples are examined: Brexit, South Africa's purported withdrawal from the Rome Statute, and the United States' announced withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. INTRODUCTION Reading current statements of world leaders on subjects relevant to interna- tional law is liable to cause confusion, even distress to those for whom the 1945 regulatory arrangements, as completed in the post-Cold War era, have become the norm. On occasions, international law is invoked, but in what seems an increasingly antagonistic way, amounting often to a dialogue of the deaf. At other times it is apparently or even transparently ignored. This touches many of the arrangements governments spent the preceding period seeking to establish, whether concerning - in no particular order - human rights, international humanitarian law, refugee protection, free trade, the environment, the regulation of ocean spaces, international dispute settlement, foreign investment, international criminal law, the rules relating to the use of force, nuclear non-proliferation, and so on. Is there a pattern to all this, and how should we respond? Obviously, for a complete answer it would be necessary to look in detail at each of these areas, and to extract real underlying tendencies from the *AC, FBA, LLD, Judge, International Court ofJustice. This is a revised version of the 46th Chorley lecture, delivered at the London School of Economics on 14 June 2017: it reflects the position as known to me at the time. Views expressed are personal and do not imply any opinion on matters that may come before the Court. Thanks are due to Amelia Keene, Associate Legal Officer, and Harry Aitken, University Trainee, for their considerable assistance. © 2018 The Author. The Modern Law Review © 2018 The Modern Law Review Limited. (2018) 81 (1) MLR 1-22 Published byJohn Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA 'THE. M. ODERN LAW EW

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