Soldatenko: Cuban Missile Crisis shows limits of international law
Scholar argues the Kennedy administration used Article 2(4) to justify policy, not to be constrained by it.
What to know
- Soldatenko argues the Cuban Missile Crisis is misremembered as an international law success when it actually shows law's limited power to constrain state action.
- The Kennedy administration developed legal justifications for the blockade after choosing it as policy, not before—showing law was used to legitimize decisions already made.
- The analysis reflects broader concerns about Article 2(4)'s erosion given recent U.S. interventions in Venezuela and Iran, plus Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
“Although the crisis is often touted as a gold standard of what international law can accomplish in high-stakes contexts, the Kennedy administration's decision-making, in fact, highlighted the limited value of Article 2(4) in constraining state conduct on its own.”
Mykhailo Soldatenko, Legal scholar · Lawfare ↗ · Sep 22
Mykhailo Soldatenko Legal scholar, Lawfare contributorPresident John F. Kennedy U.S. president during Cuban Missile CrisisMcGeorge Bundy National Security Adviser
How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts
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Lawfare amplifies Soldatenko essay on social media
Lawfare promotes the analysis on Mastodon, framing it as an exploration of what Article 2(4) can and cannot do in constraining state conduct.
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Using the Cuban missile crisis as a case study, Mykhailo Soldatenko explores what Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter can, and more crucially cannot, do in constraining state conduct on its own. https://www. lawfaremedia.org/article/inter national-law-in-the-cuban-missile-crisis
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Soldatenko publishes analysis of international law's role in Cuban Missile Crisis
Mykhailo Soldatenko's essay in Lawfare argues that international law, specifically Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, was used to justify the Kennedy administration's naval blockade of Cuba but did not meaningfully constrain their decision-making. He contends that the crisis is often mischaracterized as a success for international law when in fact it demonstrated the limited value of such law in regulating state conduct.
“The crisis showed that international law was used to justify and legitimize policy choices but did not exert a meaningful constraining effect on the Kennedy administration.”
— Mykhailo Soldatenko -
first by Lawfare, 12h ago
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