Russia’s military incursions in Ukraine earlier this year violated international law. So did China’s implementation of an air defense identification zone above Japanese islands in the East China Sea. The United States violated international law by sending military forces into Iraq in 2003 and Serbia in 1999—as did a number of European countries, like Great Britain, which joined these interventions. Russia and the United States have also violated the laws of war in recent conflicts—Russia in Chechnya, the United States in Iraq. Russia and China routinely violate human rights law. The West imposed modest sanctions on a handful of Russian officials and firms after the Ukraine violations, but otherwise none of these countries faced sanctions for their legal violations.

And yet it is rare for countries to admit that they violate international law, or to argue that they are free to violate international law. Vladimir Putin justified the Ukraine incursion in a speech that elaborately weaved in themes of international law and political morality. The U.S. government tried to justify the 2003 Iraq War based on old Security Council resolutions and human rights considerations. China has argued that its claims in the East China sea are based on historical title.

We are left with questions. Do countries care about international law, or do they comply with it only when it happens to coincide with their interests? If they don’t care about international law, then why do they try to justify their actions under it? But if they do care about international law, how do we explain the violations? What role does international law play, anyway?

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