UNCLOS has been weakened by U.S. non-participation but it is still held as legitimate by rest of the world

Can UNCLOS be considered a powerful international agreement if the United States has not ratified it? Legitimacy relies on the internalization of external standards to substantiate the belief by an actor that a rule or institution ought to be obeyed. In the international sphere, very few laws or organizations have obtained recognition and approval of all countries. Because so few bodies govern the relations between states, any breach to the legitimacy of those bodies is clearly significant. Despite the destabilizing effect of the United States' nonratification of the UNCLOS, 157 countries and the European Community have joined in the Convention.ⁿ¹⁷⁰ Moreover, in many areas, UNCLOS codifies preexisting customary international law of the sea that the United States already recognizes.ⁿ¹⁷¹ Therefore, while nonratification may weaken the UNCLOS, at the moment, it appears the rest of the world accepts the Convention as legitimate. UNCLOS will play an essential role in resolving disagreements in the Arctic, and it is critical for the United States ratify UNCLOS in the very near future.