Risk, Security and International Law

Abstract

There is a strong intersection between risk, security and the law. Legal systems serve as an important way that risk – be it business risk or political risk – can be mitigated. The law is, however, far more effective at regulating financial contracts or measures affecting individuals than it is regulating the behaviour of states parties in the international system, where relative scale and power matter. All legal systems rely upon the authority of the court, and the ability of the court to impose sanctions on transgressing parties. This is why power and influence matter in international law: capable (and therefore powerful) states are able to resist or ignore international law and to ignore any sanction that might follow. Less powerful states are less able to do so. The strength of very capable nations – and the US provides the key example for this in the chapter – has such latent capabilities that they are able to impose their domestic law upon third countries: extraterritorialising their legal system. This chapter explores extraterritorialisation, emphasising the importance this concept is beginning to play in the international system, and can be foreseen to do so in the medium term. This chapter is divided into two main sections, covering first how we might choose to reframe political risk, and second, understanding of how law and political power intersects with international security.