The place and role of unilateralism in contemporary international law

Unilateralism includes recourse to juridical unilateral acts but may also denote the general tendency prevailing among some powerful states or groups of states to act without regard to respect for the equal sovereignty of their partners. The recent period shows a recrudescence of such behaviour. It raises the issue of the threat posed to the whole international system established after World War II as reflected in the UN Charter, in which one of the basis principles is the general obligation of cooperation. It is therefore necessary, first, to review the scope of the general obligation to cooperate, and second the consequential residual place of unilateral action in relation to the new wave of unilateralism as well as to the questions raised.