Jimmie Lee Sterling
Abstract: The development and evolution of international law is a subject filled with differing perspectives and schools of thought. This work analyzes the theoretical foundations of international law with respect to the assertions and problems with each school. Beginning with Grotius and later Samuel Pufendorf and Vattel, the creation of the Naturalist school and the concept of sovereignty will be shown as a foundational pillar of international law theory. The Positivist school, which was created in part from the work of Hegel, will be analyzed in its relationship to the Naturalist school as well as other theories of international law. The discussion will turn to analyzing the theory of monism through the work of Kelsen. Finally, the schools of Dualism and Leon Dugit’s sociological positivism are discussed with respect to spontaneous international law and the supremacy, or lack thereof, of international law over state law. The assertions and problems present within each school will be analyzed to show how each applies itself in the international legal system and how each school can be considered a foundational theory of today’s international law system.
Keywords: International law, theory, positivism, monism, natural law, sovereignty, dualism
