The law of state responsibility

This video offers a general overview of the law of state responsibility as laid out in the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA). After briefly distinguishing responsibility from accountability and liability, I thus discuss the main provisions of the ARSIWA outlining the principles of attributability and a breach of international law, aid and assistance in the commission of internationally wrongful acts, as well as circumstances precluding wrongfulness. 0:00 Introduction 0:58 Responsibility, accountability, liability 1:59 The ARSIWA 3:11 Attributability 5:36 Breach of international law 6:28 Aid and assistance in a breach 7:07 Circumstances precluding wrongfulness Reading: • Jan Klabbers, International Law (4th ed., Cambridge University Press, 2023), chapter 7 Reading questions: • In brief, how does international law determine whether an action taken by an individual or entity can be considered an act of the state? Illustrate your answer with one example not given in the textbook. • To what extent is intent relevant in establishing responsibility under international law? In answering, make sure to consider the characteristics of different subjects of international law. This video series was created for a second-year undergraduate course in public international law at University College Roosevelt in the Netherlands.