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VOL. 8, ISSUE 1 (2026)
Is international law truly law? beyond sovereign command and coercive enforcement
Authors
Madhumitha Gopinath
Abstract
The theoretical controversy on the
jurisprudential status of international law has a long history. Classical legal
positivists, especially John Austin, rejected its nature as a form of law based
on the reason that it does not have a sovereign defining its authority and a
centralized sanctioning mechanism. In contrast to the domestic legal system,
international law has a decentralized system that includes sovereign states,
voluntary jurisdiction and enforcement of the law that is politically
contingent. The lack of an international legislature, the mandatory hearing by
the International Court of Justice, and the identical tools of coercion still
stokes doubts about its legal nature. The command theory basis of law is
however disputed through modern jurisprudence. The re-conceptualization of law
beyond sovereign command in thinkers like Hans Kelsen and H. L. A. Hart gave
more importance on normativity and rule-structure and institutional
recognition. The modern international practice, including the adherence to
treaties, the regulation of the trade, and relations between states, proves
that international norms are always considered binding by states. The present
paper revisits the classical debate considering institutional developments and
compliance theories in the current modern context. It holds that even though
there is no central authority to enforce international law, it is a normative
legal order to which consent and reciprocity, along with legitimacy and
interdependency, uphold it. The paper finds that, the problem of dismissing the
international law cannot be approached using a tight definition of law as
coercion, but rather as a decentralized, but functional form of law.
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Pages:144-153
How to cite this article:
Madhumitha Gopinath "Is international law truly law? beyond sovereign command and coercive enforcement". International Journal of Law, Policy and Social Review, Vol 8, Issue 1, 2026, Pages 144-153
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