Modern International Law in the Light of USA Unilateralism

Great powers with different capabilities have a privileged position to operate in various international arenas. One of these cases is the role they play in creating international legal rules. In the modern era, which includes the period after 1945, great powers have formed new legal rules in addition to development of traditional international law through their cooperation and competition. the unilateralism of great powers can also have many effects on international law. The purpose is to investigate the unilateralism of the America in the field of international relations and its effects on international law. the question is, how does America's unilateralism in the field of international relations affect international law? the hypothesis is due to the fact that America, as the hegemon, has the capacity to influence the field of international relations, In the field of international law, the unilateralist action of this country, although it can lead to the creation of international customs in some cases, but in practice, it causes weakness and functional crisis in this area. The results show that the unilateral action of America in preemptive defense, use of drones, and use of torture to obtain confessions from terrorist suspects leads to ignoring general rules and ultimately weakening international law. The current study has analyzed the unilateralism of the America in the field of international law with a descriptive-analytical approach in the three areas of creating international custom, the cross-border consequences of domestic law, and the interpretation of the rules of international law by this country.