Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Publication Information

61 Am. J. Juris. 51 (2016).

Abstract

This article seeks to explore some of the reasons why the principle of subsidiarity, although applicable in some sectors of international law and particularly in the field of international human rights law, has difficulty in serving as a general principle of public international law more broadly. The obstacles to advancing a more robust understanding of subsidiarity's place in the current structure of global norms and institutions include: the normative and institutional fragmentation of international law; the continuing centrality of state sovereignty in the international legal system; and the endemic weaknesses and incapacity of states and sub-state communities with respect to any general system of global governance. The article concludes with some suggestions regarding how these difficulties can be mitigated.

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