Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T18:35:27.905Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Foundations and Functions of International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2023

Stefan Talmon
Affiliation:
University of Bonn
Get access

Summary

This chapter is concerned with Germany’s perspective on the foundations and functions of international law. It is structured in two parts: international law in general and sources of international law. The second part examines Germany’s view of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) that sought to limit Iran’s nuclear programme. It is argued that the political aims of Germany do not justify the twisting of international law. The Federal Government portrayed the document as a binding international treaty. It did so by speaking of an ‘agreement’, from which the US had decided to ‘withdraw’ and by depicting the participants as ‘parties’. Further, Germany argued that Iran is bound by ‘obligations’ under the JCPoA. Germany also spoke of ‘Articles’ in the JCPoA and asserted that the document was ‘signed’. Moreover, Germany argued that the JCPoA became international law through the endorsement of the UN Security Council. However, the UN Security Council never marked its endorsement as a binding decision. Four and half years after the adoption of the JCPoA, Germany admitted that the JCPoA constitutes only a record of mutual political commitments and is therefore ‘soft law’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×