Towards Global Justice

The Book describes a new model of sovereignty which is fast replacing the traditional Westphalian model embodied in Art. 2 of the UN Charter and rigorously followed throughout the Cold War. The scholarly basis for this new model draws upon developments in international criminal law which first emerged from the Nuremberg trials and upon more recent interstate economic cooperation which has turned sovereign independence into interdependence across a range of state functions. Does this mean that traditional Westphalian concepts of sovereignty should be abandoned in constructing a new theory of world governance for the twenty-first century? Not at all. A new model, which can be called the pattern of interdependence-based sovereignty, serves to explain contemporary events that puzzle traditional theorists, such as the war over Kosovo, the invasions of Iraq and Libya, the emergence of a Responsibility to protect doctrine and its recent validation in Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973. We are witnessing the emergence of a new philosophy of action, which is in the process of producing a 21st century system of international relations.