The Normative Framework: Objectives of State Responsibility in International Law

This chapter outlines the normative framework of the analysis and discusses the objectives of state responsibility in international law. It builds on the distinction between the private and public dimensions of international state responsibility, which mirrors the development from an international legal system governing inter-state relations to serving the protection of community interests. For the identification of the goals of state responsibility this chapter differentiates between, on the one hand, scenarios that relate more to tort or contractual liability-like situations discussed in the economic analysis of domestic law and, on the other hand, scenarios relating to the protection of global public goods and the preservation of common pool resources (including jus cogens norms). A second distinction is made regarding the level of enforcement, namely whether state responsibility can be enforced by the injured state itself or whether there is the possibility for third-party enforcement, such as in the case of erga omnes and erga omnes partes obligations, bearing public good characteristics. The chapter summarises the (instrumental) objectives of the international law of state responsibility as: compliance, flexibility, compensation, enforcement, and cooperation. Determining optimal rules of international state responsibility requires to strike the right balance between these different goals.