Impact of International Organizations on International Law

José E. Alvarez is the Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law at New York University Law School. He served as President of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) from 2006-2008 and is currently the co-editor in chief of the American Journal of International Law.

• I.Legal Positivism and its Discontents(1)The Mainstream: Legal Positivism (a)Positivist Treaties(b)Positivist Custom(c) Positivist General Principles(2)The Institutional Challenge to Legal Positivism(a)The Reality of Institutionalization(b)The International Judiciary(c)The Return of Domestic Analogies(d)From State Rules to Process(e)From Process to Inter-disciplinarity (3)CaveatsII.The UN Charter Over Time: The Contemporary Security Council(1)What is the UN Charter for?(2)The UN Charter as Positivist Instrument(3)The Council and the “Contracting Out” of Force: Iraq(4)The Council as Extradition Tool(5)The Council and Ad Hoc War Criminal Tribunals(6)The Council and the “Right to Democracy”(7)The Council’s “Smart” Sanctions(8)The Council’s Global “Legislation”(9)The Council’s New Tool: The ICC(10) The Council and “Human Security” III.The Contemporary General Assembly(1)The Assembly and the Sources of International Law(2) The Assembly as Charter Interpreter(3) The Assembly as Human Rights Interpreter and Enforcer(4) The Assembly as Peace and Security Institutional ActorIV. A Contemporary Specialized Agency: The World Health Organization(1) The Origins of the WHO(2) The Fall of the Old IHRs (3)The Rise of the Revised (2005) IHRs(4) The WHO’s First Treaty: The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control(5) The WHO in Larger ContextV. The Main Functions of International Adjudication(1) Introduction(2) The Complex Dispute Settlement Function(3) The Fact-Finding Function(4) The Law-Making Function(5) The Governance Function(6) ConclusionsVI. Three Challenges Posed by International Organizations(1)The IO Challenge to Legal Positivism(a)The challenge to the primacy of states and state consent(b)The challenge to the Article 38 source of international obligation(c)The challenge to bindingness(d)Explaining how IO charters “evolve”(2)The IO Challenge to Sovereignty(3)The IO Challenge to the Rule of Law(4)Conclusion