The Use of Force by the United States after the End of the Cold War and Its Impact on International law: The Supremacy of Power over Law

The rules relating to the prohibition on the use of force, including its exceptions, are at the core of the international legal order that emerged after the greatest human-made disaster of all times: World War II. In that legal order peace is perceived as the main value to be protected and the general prohibition on the use of force embodied in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The hopes for a new peaceful international order between 1945 and 1989 and also after the collapse of communism were soon disappointed. The resort to force in international relations is even more prevalent today than previous decades. Since the United States has become the only superpower with its overwhelming military supremacy and has been one of the States that has resorted to force the most, this begs the following question: how has the post- cold war US approach to the use of force challenged international law in this important sphere? To provide an answer to this research question, by using a Structural Realism framework and a qualitative-analytical method, the US legal arguments and practice relating to the rules governing the use of force, and the reactions of other countries to them are analyzed in order to show that the post- cold war US challenge on international law will lead to the governing the use of force in international relations and the supremacy of power over law.