problem is that rather than finding a genuine pattern, which can be usefully
likened to colonialism, they seem to be doing little more than noting an
interesting analogy. Furthermore, the direction of causality is unclear. Do such
regions become culturally differentiated because of the internal migration of
those who can compete with the inhabitants of the centre? Is the stress on
ethnic differentiation largely a compensating drive to make up for the
economic disparities?
International Law
International law is usually divided into public international law and private
international law. The former consists of the generally understood rules
governing the relations between states (seeGrotius), as well as an enormous
mass of treaty-based specific regulations. Thus it covers both fundamental
questions, such as the right to go to war (seejust war), how citizens of neutral
countries should be treated, the laws against genocide and the code for
treating prisoners of war, as well as the regulations on international air traffic
control, the law of the sea bed, extradition of criminals and so on. Interna-
tional law in this sense is administered by a host of agencies, the most famous,
though not the most effective, being the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at
The Hague (seewar crimes tribunals), aUnited Nationsorganization.
Legal theorists still debate whether or not international law really islawin the
full sense, because there exists no mechanism for enforcing judgments.
Despite the fact that major powers do, from time to time, ignore rulings of
the ICJ, as the USA did in the judgment of Nicaragua v. USAwhich
condemned the mining of Nicaraguan ports by the USA in 1984, most
international law is obeyed nearly all the time, and clearly affects governmental
decisions.
In the late 1990s, following the organization of tribunals to hear cases
regarding war crimes in specific conflicts, efforts were made to create a
permanent International Criminal Court. A statute detailing the process
towards the establishment of such a tribunal (with competence to try suspects
on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes) was signed in
Rome in July 1998, and was scheduled to enter into force in July 2002
(although many considered that the refusal of some important states, including
the USA, to become party to the new Court might affect its practical
authority).
Private international law, which is of growing significance, is the body of
rules andarbitrationagreements covering contractual arrangements between
non-governmental bodies from different countries. Although there is no single
international court with jurisdiction in private international law, the increasing
interdependence of the world economy, and the economic importance of
International Law