Is International Law Really Law?

Abstract

There has been an ongoing and probably a never-ending debate on whether international law is really law. Thus, there exists a group of scholars who are of the view that international law is not a real law while another group of scholars on the other hand also argue that international law is real law. The article contributes to the existing literature on this argument by giving a different dimension to the argument. That is, the article situates the argument of whether international law is a real law or not, into the theory of Realism and Liberalism and by outlining the main arguments provided by the two schools of thought to support their respective views on the topic under discussion, an objective conclusion was drawn at the end. The methodology adopted for the study is the qualitative approach of which the works of renowned scholars that focus on debating whether international law is a real law or not were studied and this aided in a comprehensive analysis of the arguments surrounding this debate and eventually leading to an objective conclusion. Materials used include information from the internet, journal articles, policy documents as well as all other important reading materials such as the dailies, press releases, news items and official reports. The article finally concludes by stating that international law is a real law because enforcement is not entirely the only hallmark of what constitutes law and even domestic law in a broader sense does not possess full enforcement as argued by scholars who are of the view that international law is not really law.