Renunciation of Military Aggression and the Threat thereof as an Instrument of National Policy

This chapter suggests that the international law regarding the use of force that has come into existence since 1945 is clear and consistent in terms of the prohibition of military aggression. A central tendency in the development of international law in the twentieth century has been the growth of an international consensus in support of an increasingly restrictive set of international legal norms regarding the use of force in international relations. The emergence of a new and increasingly cooperative relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union on a growing range of international security issues provides a promising basis for enhancing the role of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security, and more generally, for enhancing the effectiveness of international law in the regulation of the use of force.