Rule-based world order collapsing, replaced by 'force-based order': Harish Salve

Noted advocate Harish Salve warns the global rule-based order is collapsing as powerful nations increasingly ignore international law, arguing the world is shifting toward a force-based system with few legal checks.

Senior advocate and former Solicitor General of India Harish Salve warned that the global rule-based system underpinning international law is eroding, arguing that power politics is increasingly replacing legal norms in global conflicts.

Speaking to India Today, Salve said recent wars and geopolitical tensions suggest that international law is losing its practical influence over powerful nations.

“I don’t think public international law today is really of any operative importance to certain countries,” Salve said. “It’s more for academics to debate than for countries to abide by.”

Salve said the framework created after World War II, anchored in the United Nations Charter, was meant to restrain countries from using force unless in self-defence or with approval from the United Nations Security Council.

But he argued that in practice, those rules are increasingly being ignored.

“A rule-based order everybody speaks about it,” Salve said. “But today it is being put to one side. Now it is a force-based order.”