Alleviating everyday friction through good neighbourliness

Abstract

This paper explores how the good neighbourliness principle can lessen friction between sovereign states. While friction is at its most visible when armed force is used, it can result from a variety of everyday governance decisions, for example: when a state approves industrial activities that cause pollution in another state; when a state’s monetary, trade, or fiscal policies improve its economy’s competitiveness at the expense of that of its trading partners; or when a state tolerates, or even actively promotes, practices that other states may find offensive. Alleviating such friction between states is an important task for international law that is becoming ever more important in our increasingly interdependent world. Common response strategies are the conclusion of international agreements or the transfer of powers from states to international organisations. However, these are often painstakingly slow to achieve, if they even generate a successful result at all. In light of this, we need legal rules and principles that balance the sovereignty concerns and interests of both acting and affected states so as to avoid the friction caused by the everyday exercise of states’ sovereignty. The proposed paper examines the potential of the good neighbourliness principle to achieve a fair outcome between all states involved, even in the absence of a formal agreement or an international organisation. The paper explores the meaning and origins of this principle, and reflects on its legal status. It establishes that many rules and principles in international environmental law already draw on the good neighbourliness principle, and examines how these rules and principles can in turn inspire the development of international law in other areas in which the interdependence of states manifests itself, particularly where the impacts are not of a physical nature.