Analyzing the Challenges of Fundamentalizing International Law in the Light of Globalization: From Normative Supremacy to the Crisis of Legitimacy and Fragmentation

Abstract

Globalization has profoundly transformed the classical structure of international law, which was based on the sovereignty of states, consent, and horizontal relations between political units. In this context, the theory of “fundamentalization of international law” attempts to explain how some international rules, values, and institutions achieve a status beyond ordinary contractual obligations and act as a constraint on public power. The aim of this research is to analyze the capacities and, in particular, the challenges of fundamentalizing international law in the light of globalization. The main question is whether, without the existence of a world state, a single constitution, and a centralized guarantee of enforcement, one can speak of the formation of a fundamental order at the international level, and what are the most important obstacles to the establishment of such an order. The research is conducted using a descriptive-analytical method and a legal-documentary approach, and relies on peremptory norms, universal obligations, the UN Charter, the practice of judicial authorities, human rights literature, and studies related to the fragmentation of international law, to evaluate the normative and institutional components of this process. The findings show that contemporary international law has significant signs of informal fundamentalization, including the creation of relative hierarchies of norms, the limitation of sovereignty by fundamental obligations, the increase in the role of the individual, and the development of judicial oversight. However, conceptual ambiguity, state resistance, the crisis of democratic legitimacy of transnational institutions, the weakness of enforcement guarantees, and the conflict between specialized regimes prevent this process from becoming a complete fundamental structure. As a result, the fundamentalization of international law should be considered a gradual, multi-level, and unfinished process whose success depends on creating a balance between sovereignty and responsibility, normative unity and pluralism, and legal and political legitimacy.