International Community

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State sovereignty means the power or the authority vested in the persons who rule a state. It means the supreme authority that exercises the sovereign power of the people. It is the authority to govern a state and its people. Moreover, it controls its affairs. Sovereignty is also the highest source of law. It also represents the lawful and ultimate authority over a political unity.

In this context, international organizations set rules and norms that are designed to influence the actions of states and other actors in the international arena. These are set up by formal political agreements between members that have the position of international treaties. These are intergovernmental organizations that have many members from more than one country. Examples of international organizations include the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the European Investment Bank (1). Some other international organizations include the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, United Nations Education Scientific & Cultural Organization.

International organizations are not a sufficient balance to the power of state sovereignty. The reasons are there are governance problems in international organizations, weak leadership in the organization, and there are conflicts of interest among the countries. In addition, international organizations are enervated because of global health problems, financial governance, and wars. These organizations are also supposed to address the problems of development and the environment but these organizations fail to solve these problems. Moreover, these international organizations are not effective because they do not have instruments that are essential for achieving their goals. For example, the United Nations has not been able to achieve its objectives because it does not have an army. At the same time, international organizations have been able to resolve some conflicts through mediation. These are resolving conflicts among their member states. The function of international organizations is to serve as a forum for discussion and dialogue (2). These organizations decide on the rules and protocols of the international system, set up a system for supervision, and impose economic sanctions.

Similar to international organizations, international law is ineffective because there is ineffective law-making authority. Besides, the international court of justice does not have compulsory jurisdiction, and the sanctions behind international law are very weak. The key weakness of international law is that it cannot enforce its actions, sanctions, and policy competently and strongly. Moreover, international law is impotent because there is widespread violation of some of the legal norms which makes it harder to enforce the law. For example, international law includes the protection of human rights but these human rights are violated widely.

International law is supposed to ...