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11 Global Governance 311 (2005)
International Legal Consensus and the Control of Excess State Violence

handle is hein.journals/glogo11 and id is 321 raw text is: Global Governance 11 (2005), 311-330 International Legal Consensus and the Control of Excess State Violence Bruce Cronin The dramatic increase in the level of global governance through multi- lateral institutions is leading to changes in the theoretical underpin- nings of international law and its role in contemporary world politics. In specific, well-defined areas of international law, states have begun to recognize the authority of international consensus over individual state consent as the foundation of legal obligation. Specifically, states have begun to develop a consensus around the control of excess state violence, defined as a level of violence exceeding that which inter- national political actors consider to be legitimate for pursuing national interests. This includes crimes against humanity, genocide, and grave breaches of the laws of war. In a major shift from twentieth-century practice, states are increasingly recognizing this body of international law as having universal applicability considered binding on all states regardless of whether they are parties to specific treaties. KEYWORDS: international law, Security Council, international organization, state violence, international consensus. he prevailing theory of international law views voluntary state consent as the primary if not the sole foundation for international legal obligation. Political realists, liberal internationalists, neolib- eral institutionalists, and legal positivists all agree that states are required to adhere only to those international legal commitments that they voluntary adopt through their domestic political systems. Such an approach preserves a state's right to reject any principle or obligation that it does not deem to be in its interest to adopt. At the same time, it also strengthens the international legal order by committing states to adhere to those rules that they themselves have agreed to follow. Thus, a consent-based international legal system facilitates cooperation by enabling states to pursue common goals without sacrificing their sover- eignty. As a result, consent-based legal norms have dominated inter- national law for more than a century. Recent trends, however, suggest that foreign policy officials and legal analysts from many states have begun to question whether this is suffi- cient for addressing some of the most vexing controversies in international

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