Although international law appears to play a political role, that role cannot be conceptualized within a paradigm that posits power as the prime determinant of political outcomes and yet does not theorize the relationship between international law and power. It has been hypothesized that the power of international law resides in an idea which specifies that international law is a set of binding rules distinguishable from current international politics. Certain insights of ideology theory regarding the relationship of ideas to power have been applied to explain the relationship of the idea of international law to the operation of the international political system. It has been suggested that the idea of international law is integral to the international distribution of power and that it actually sustains the structure of the international political order. In order for the ideology to operate successfully, lawyers must continue to find ways of demonstrating the practicality of the image of international law portrayed by the ideology.
Legal discourse is founded on an assumption of legal objectivity.
This conceptualization of the relationship of international law to international politics means that many previously asked questions regarding international law have been superseded. Seeking reasons for the obedience of States to international law is representative of a whole approach to international law by which the law is regarded as a set of neutral, compulsory rules, whether that be on the part of those sceptical of the value of international law or those who regard it as an avenue to world peace. While not wrong, this tells only part of the story. It is as an idea that international law has its reality and its power. A conceptualization of international law as ideology has integrated the image of international law as a set of objective rules with its political reality.