The English School and the Position of International law in the International Society

Abstract

In the common view, which is influenced by the theory of realism, international law is merely a modern tool in the service of the great powers to legitimize their access to their goals and is respected until being beneficial for the national interest. In fact, interfering politics and selfish interests are hidden behind the beautiful and deceptive mask of international law. On the other hand, the solidarism approach of English school, without denying the crucial role of state sovereignty, focuses on the formation of a global consensus on norms of international law and fading away the border between internal and international society and as one of the theoretical bases of good governance paradigm, encourages states to regard the standards of democratic governance by emphasizing on the norms of international human rights. The question of this article is: “Has English school approach towards international law been able to improve human rights and good governance standards?” The question is responded by the documentary method of collecting data through books, articles, websites and internet sources. we reached to this conclusion that even though the international legal system consists of horizontal rules and is based on the co-operation of the subjects, However, governments build the international community according to these common rules and norms, and by limiting themselves to complying with these rules, they consider violations of human rights standards and governance standards unauthorized and are not willing to abandon them easily in order to maintain their international credibility and legitimacy.