Chapter 8: Do Tensions in the International Rule of Law Help Doom Democracy? An Essay in Constructive Criticism Available to Purchase

This essay considers how antidemocratic tensions within international law can amplify authoritarian political tropes that threaten to doom democracy in national politics. I discuss generally the international rule of law's engrained neutrality among forms of governments, its politicized framework for human rights, and its allowing powerful states explicit and implicit capabilities to undermine core legal principles. All three tensions have been accentuated in recent years by nations’ focus on security, and responses to dramatic rises in refugees and other forced migrants. Some models within the global legal system that foreground democratic features might counter the systemic tensions that support autocracy.