International Law's Contribution to Security in the Post-Cold War Era: From Functional to Political and Beyond

This Essay discusses the progress that has been made in the post-Cold War world to bring international law’s contribution to political areas into line with its longstanding contribution to functional ones. It uses three issues—human rights and the commission of war crimes; international trade; and the use of force by States—to show how international law has been used to achieve concrete results and to highlight the challenges that remain.