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Why Do Nations Obey International Law?

Koh, Harold Hongju, Chayes, Abram, Chayes, Antonia Handler, Franck, Thomas M.·1997·The Yale Law Journal

Abstract

Why do nations obey international law? This remains among the most perplexing questions in international relations. Nearly three decades ago, Louis Henkin asserted that "almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all of the time."' Although empirical work since then seems largely to have confirmed this hedged but optimistic description, scholars have generally avoided the causal question: If transnational actors do generally obey international law, why do they obey it, and why do they sometimes disobey it?

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Metadata

Authors
Koh, H. H., Chayes, A., Chayes, A. H., & Franck, T. M.
Venue
The Yale Law Journal
Publisher
JSTOR
Published
1997-06
Volume
106
Issue
8
Pages
2599
ISSN
0044-0094 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1495593927
Cited by
1,188
References
0
FWCI
32.26
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Why Do Nations Obey International Law? https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.2307/797228
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Koh, H. H., Chayes, A., Chayes, A. H., & Franck, T. M. (1997). Why Do Nations Obey International Law? The Yale Law Journal. https://doi.org/10.2307/797228

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