Political Interpretations of International Legal Norms

Abstract

Nilsson, A-S. Political Interpretations of International Legal Norms. Cooperation and Conflict, XXIII, 1988, 163-177.

International law is frequently accused of being irrelevant in the international system. In political language, it is supposed to play a basically manipulative role. This study examines the use of international legal norms in political language in an effort to determine whether actors actually, as critics argue, approach these norms in a homogeneous verbal way, regardless of the legal beliefs of the actors. Actors' verbal interpretations of legal norms ("say") are contrasted to the approach found in their legal models ("think") and in practical behavior ("do"). Traditional law is one of many possible legal models. The verbal, practical and theoretical interpretations of legal norms made by four intervening actors in the Spanish Civil War (France, Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union) are analyzed and compared. Although these are actors with a wide variance in legal beliefs (one is a status quo actor and three present different revolutionary models), their verbal approaches to legal norms proved to be very similar. Only rarely did political language reflect the legal beliefs/models and behavior of revolutionary actors. Instead, also revolutionary actors relied on traditional law in political language. The acceptance by the traditional legal system of such verbal manipulation of legal norms could, it is suggested here, both weaken and strengthen this system in the long run.