I do not need international law, said Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, a superpower. This is not just mere rhetoric but an outright renunciation of international legal norms that had underpinned post-World War stability. These remarks are preceded by one of the most contentious foreign policy decisions in American history: the military invasion of Venezuela, leading to the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, which, according to Trump, will result in the imposition of long-term US governance over its oil reserves.

The world order, after World War II, has for decades been based upon a fragile but crucial consensus. Non-intervention, state sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the prohibition on the use of force are not abstract concepts but legal answers to avoid the devastation of war. These principles survived not due to adherence but due to the lip service of powerful states and leaders. Yet even the pretence has been abandoned in this latest statement by Trump.

These actions should trouble the protagonists of the liberal world order, as Trump tramples on the UN Charter’s fundamental principles. Article 2(4) of the Charter strictly limits the use of force, prohibiting the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. The only exceptions are self-defence under Article 51 and........

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