International Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

International Law - Essay Example International law is based on expediency between nations and contracts, as in treaties or trade agreements that operate formally on an international level between countries and their citizens mutually. In addition to these types of expedient agreements, there exists also a corpus of idealistic international law that is best represented by international organizations and their membership charters, as well as the declarations of human rights and other specific rights of women, children, and minorities that these constituencies have produced. When asking whether or not international law is really law, the question revolves around the actual legitimacy of the process through which these agreements were created, via legislature or counsel of a minority of representatives from a select group of nations, but more specifically, as to whether any legitimate structures exist that can comply adherence to the standards of international law through enforcement measures. In summary, the main aspec t of the question goes to the heart of enforceability in international law, and whether the sovereignty of the nation-state as it relates to domestic autonomy can ever be overcome by organizations like the UN. As M.W. Janis wrote in Introduction to International Law, â€Å"There is a root problem faced by those who practice international law. The problem is so fundamental that it is often assumed rather than analyzed. It stems from the fact that the world is broken up into tens of independent nation-states, each purporting to provide certain essential human services - e.g. defense-education, law, more or less exclusively to the people living within that state's boundaries. Insofar as a nation-state is thought to alone provide such services, we think of it as sovereign. The nation-state political system and the notion of sovereignty impact on most every aspect of human activity. Look at their effect on the idea of law. Taken to an absolute point, the notion of sovereignty might impl y that the only extant laws were those of nation-states.†1 In simplest terms, the violation of the borders of one nation-state by another is considered an act of war. International law governs the legality of invasions and self-defence among nations based in agreement such as the Geneva Conventions and other treaties on the use of weapons. It is regarded as paradoxical to apply law to war, even in the conduct of armies, as technically war is a state emergency and a fight for survival where both sides may be expected to do anything to win militarily. As history recognizes that the victor will determine the way the terms of the battle are recorded for posterity, it also acknowledges that the winning side in war will dictate the terms of the peace to the defeated. Furthermore, political regimes change domestically, and international law is as full of broken treaties as civil law is of broken contracts. Yet, people rarely ask if contract law really exists in the same manner that t hey question international law. For the most part, this is due to the fact that civil courts are recognized authorities in society, and their ability to enforce contract law is taken for granted, or understood within an expectation of risk management. The lack of supra-national authority with the powers of

Social Media Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Media Network - Essay Example cial media are both an opportunity and a threat. Not going away. Very important, probably will become even more so. [153 Words] Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of social media and evaluate its importance in today’s society. The twenty first century is characterised by a very fast pace of life, and the proliferation of information technology. The age of industrialisation and manufacturing has given way to a postmodern age of globalisation where in Western developed countries there is an emphasis on service industries. The whole of society has now become networked in multiple different ways. (Castells, 1999). Computers are the tools of this new trade, and while some people in the world are reaping great benefits from this technological revolution, there are millions who through poverty and exclusion cannot participate in the new wave of social media which is taking over the world. This paper examines how social media, such as facebook, flickr, youtube, and twitter are a ffecting human relations in many ways, looking first and the advantages they offer and secondly the inherent disadvantages. There are four main advantages in social media, namely maintaining relationships with friends and family; forging new relationships, which can include buying and selling things, playing games, meeting people through dating sites etc; facilitating work and education tasks, by using social media to gather information, make connections with experts, or collaborate on tasks; and above all there is a huge potential for the formation of common interest groups including those which promote particular leisure pursuits, hobbies, political parties, religion or any other subject. All of these possibilities enrich the range of connections that an individual makes, and have the potential bring concrete benefits to daily life, especially for people who are lonely, disabled, housebound, or just in need of friendship. Similarly, there are a number of disadvantages associated w ith social media including the possibility of deception, since people on social media sites are unknown and may provide false information or act with malicious intent; social media can be very distracting, and even addictive, especially when conveyed over mobile devices like the iphone; they entail a loss of privacy, and in some situations a loss of self-respect, since items placed on social media sites can often not be removed, leaving a lasting legacy for others to see, and finally they offer a kind of substitute for real human relationships and this can be a huge disappointment to people who invest too much hope in social media. Some of the disadvantages of social media are quite subtle, as for example was predicted back in the 1960s by theorists who pointed out that â€Å"the medium is the message† (McLuhan, 1964, pp. 7-20) , which means that the way we relate to technology causes us to take in hidden messages which in turn change the way we see the world, and indeed ours elves. When using social media, people can adopt any identity they wish, and can experiment so widely that they lose touch with their own