ABSTRACT
The period since 1945 has witnessed the adoption of a considerable number of international conventions designed to promote minimum standards of conduct, either in the sphere of humanitarian law or in the related field of human rights law. It is not in dispute that the period has witnessed a decline in conventional forms of aggression: that is, where state A would attack state B; to this extent the system of collective security put in place by the United Nations Charter (1945) has worked. This may also be influenced by the realisation that, in an interdependent world, most states have concluded that the cost of conflict is too high and that it is sensible to resolve disputes in a peaceful and orderly manner. Among the majority of states the concept of the rule of law in international affairs enjoys a greater degree of prominence than it did 100 years ago.
