Breaking the Rules to Make Them: How Defiance Can Rebuild Global Order

Crescent International

By blindly backing Israel’s genocide in occupied Palestine, western regimes have not only destroyed whatever little credibility they had, they have also become catalysts for breaking down an already shaky international legal system.

Readers must note that international law is not an agreed upon concept even within the western legal and political establishments.

International law is often debated as being more of a legal custom than a full-fledged law in the conventional sense.

This is primarily due to the fact that it lacks a centralized enforcement mechanism and legislative authority characteristic of domestic legal systems.

Scholars like John Austin, a legal positivist, argue that international law does not qualify as “real law” because it is not backed by a sovereign authority capable of imposing it.

Instead, international law relies on voluntary compliance, reciprocity, and the collective will of states, which often adhere to its principles because of shared norms, political considerations, or reputational concerns.

Prior to the political developments of the last three years, the western imposed system provided some minimal control mechanism over the behavior of political entities worldwide.

Such control is becoming increasingly difficult to enforce.

The western imposed global order is unraveling.

The world is in the process of moving towards a multipolar global order.

A truly multipolar order is still some years away from being institutionalized, but there is an out of the box approach which can potentially serve as a catalyst for a fairer global multipolar system.

Perhaps the only way to reignite a functional global system is through a paradox: universal defiance of international norms presented as “law”.

If every country, regardless of power or influence, begins to disregard these norms, it could create a crisis severe enough to force western regimes, which often bend international law to their advantage, to confront the unsustainability of the current setup.

This chaos might compel global powers to come together, not out of altruism, but necessity, to rewrite the rules of engagement and restore a semblance of an equitable order.

Imagine a scenario where middle powers and smaller states, frustrated by the double standards of the west, begin openly defying established norms in all domains.

This is similar to what Israel has done for many decades.

If such actions were mirrored by American allies—say, Hungary or Germany—openly violating “international law” and begin trading with Russia and China to boost their economies, there is very little Washington will be able to do.

Powerful states outside the western sphere could amplify this.

If China were to disregard established economic norms like western regimes do, it would increase pressure on the western-crafted global system.

In this hypothetical scenario, the cumulative violations would destabilize the current system, creating a sense of urgency among the most influential actors.

While this scenario may appear unrealistic to some, regional wars with global political, economic and security impacts have already ushered in this process to some degree.

One of the clearest examples of this growing phenomenon is the ongoing split among EU member states and the broader European political entities on the unsustainability of strategic confrontation with Russia over Ukraine.

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