Author Biography

Monica Naime is currently a graduate student of international law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) as a recipient of a scholarship from the State of Mexico. Her research interests focus on critical approaches to international law. She holds a degree in international relations from Mexican Autonomous National University (UNAM) and in law from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), magna cum laude. She has worked at Mexico's Federal Attorney General's Office as a research assistant of the National Institute of Criminal Sciences (INACIPE). She has recently contributed to the Mexican Yearbook of International Law and was awarded the 2012 ex-ITAM Research Award for her work on unilateral acts of states. The author may be reached for comment at: monica.naime@graduateinstitute.ch.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.5.2.6

Abstract

This paper analyzes recent developments in the intervention in Libya from the perspective of international relations and international law. The evidence suggests that states decided to intervene in Libya prior to sanction from the United Nations Security Council's Resolution 1973. The implication from the Libyan example is that politics was the impetus for the formulation and implementation of law, and not the other way around. Law "happens" in a context, and this context is shaped and bounded by international politics. This article is intended to invigorate further research into how international politics influences the creation, interpretation, and application of international law.