Influence of soft law grows in international governance
As the UK government’s recent Integrated Review points out, international law-making in a fragmented international order is becoming increasingly difficult.
Geopolitical tensions, and the length of time required to agree multilateral treaties – typically decades – make it challenging to reach binding agreements in complex and fast-evolving policy areas such as climate change and technology governance.
As a result, the regulation of international behaviour through soft law – meaning non-binding instruments such as principles, codes of conduct or declarations – is starting to assume greater significance. And states increasingly find soft law-making attractive because there are relatively fewer decision costs involved.… Seguir leyendo »