Our world is going through a period of unprecedented change. In the first twenty years of the twenty-first century, we have faced the rise of terrorism, a global pandemic that shut down the world in three months, and the realization that impacts from climate change are upon us. These changes have sparked protests, movements, and reform. People are waking up to the reality that the future will be different from the past. Such times call on each of us to choose who we are and who we will become as individuals and as a global community. In a crisis, we can either fall apart or fall together.

Enter international law. The very purpose of international law is to help nations meet such challenges through peaceful cooperation. In this pursuit, international law has worked. For example, thanks to the various peaceful means for the settlement of international disputes and the general prohibition on the use of force, wars between nations have declined since 1945 to nearly zero.