In this inaugural issue of a new journal about international law, I offer a perspective of the relationships of three liberal democratic states, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, with indigenous peoples. I argue that the dynamics in these relationships - and the norms that govern them - are similar to those between sovereign states. By extension, as the world becomes more complex, "international" law seems on its way to both losing its conventional identity (as rules that are primarily accessed through the keyhole of Westphalian nationhood), and acquiring a new, more universal character (as norms that govern interactions between individuals and groups on a global basis). International law is no longer either "international" or "law".