Abolishing atomic warfare? Nuclear power and natural-international law in the twenty-first century

Abstract

Assuming the existence of nuclear weapons as a reality of international relations that cannot simply be wished away, this essay explores what HLA Hart calls the ‘minimum content of natural law’ as applied to international law, as well as its consequences for primary rules in that system. Even if we were to concede, ad arguendum, Hart’s point about the lack of secondary rules in international law, it is still worth exploring whether primary rules are the same for individuals in domestic legal systems as for states in the international legal order, on account of the differences in power and the special deterrents that characterise international relations, as opposed to the ‘approximate equality’ of individuals.