Trump and his ilk imagine a world without international law – but they will not achieve it | Philippe Sands

History shows us that the creation of international rules and institutions is followed by their partial destruction, and a reconstruction that builds on what came before

Nineteen forty-five was a pivotal moment in international law, marking the founding of the United Nations and the International Military Tribunal to investigate war crimes committed during the second world war. Eighty years on, it is increasingly being said that we are living through a moment of great change, towards a world that is without such law.

In September, the Financial Times published an editorial headlined A world without rules". That view was premised on two incidents: Israel's launch of a missile strike on a building that hosted Hamas officials in Qatar; and the flight of 19 Russian drones into Polish airspace. This flouting of the previous rules-based order", the FT said, was now producing a kind of anarchy and a proliferation of violence".

Philippe Sands is professor of law at University College London

This is adapted from A World Without Law?, the 46th FA Mann Lecture, delivered by Philippe Sands on 18 November 2025