ABSTRACT
A diplomat’s life does not unfold in a normative vacuum. Values, standards, principles, and rules, many of which are reflected in international law (IL), constrain states’ behaviour in many ways. In his or her daily practice, a diplomat takes these into account. In this chapter, we are not primarily interested in studying substantive IL provisions, but in understanding their role in diplomatic practice. We will see how a diplomat’s perspective differs from that of a lawyer. For a diplomat, law is one variable among others in his or her search for practical solutions to unpleasant problems. A diplomat negotiates, a lawyer adjudicates. In the latter case, there is a winner and a loser, in diplomacy both parties save face. We will look at the two main sources of IL: customary law and treaty law with a short detour to soft law. We will explore two questions: why do states seek to establish IL? And why, notwithstanding the absence of an enforcement authority, do most states comply with most of the law most of the time? From there we go to a substantive question. Given the centrality of the state in international relations, we will ask: what is it, from a legal point of view, that makes an entity to be a state? We close with a review of the general political principles of IL, and do this in two steps: first, we look at what they are, and second, at how they work; we investigate the latter question in a case study involving Kosovo.
