Political Theology of International Order

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Bain
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
International Order ◽  
Medieval Theology ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Right Order

This book investigates presuppositions of international order that originate in medieval theology. Part I examines rival conceptions of order that emerged out of a medieval dispute about the nature of God and the extent of his power. The theory of immanent order refers to an interconnected whole that imparts a rationally intelligible pattern of right order. The theory of imposed order refers to a contingent arrangement, established by will and artifice or the operation of an impersonal mechanism, which accommodates numerous patterns that can be made and unmade. Part II investigates the assimilation of medieval theological ideas in the thought of three emblematic thinkers: Martin Luther, Hugo Grotius, and Thomas Hobbes. This challenges the narrative of progressive secularization characterizing most international thought. Particular emphasis is placed on the transition from medieval to modern. The claim here is that continuity describes this transition as persuasively as the more familiar discourse of change. Part III uncovers a theological inheritance that shapes modern theories of international order. The language of system and society, as well as anarchy, balance of power, and contractual international law, reflects the intellectual commitments of nominalist theology. The conclusion explores the tension that arises from this theological inheritance in a world where God is only one of several postulates that can be called upon to fix the contingency of a constructed international order. The danger is that grounding international order in nothing more than human decision leaves what is made fundamentally indeterminate and precariously exposed to the whims of capricious power.

Order and Theology

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
William Bain
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Theoretical Investigation ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
International Order ◽  
Medieval Theology ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Shared Beliefs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Central Claim ◽  
Modern Thinking

This chapter introduces political theology as an approach to interpreting and analysing the idea of order. The central claim is that widely held conceptions of international order, for example, a multitude of states organized in terms of a spontaneous balance of power or relationships self-consciously constructed through will and consent, reflect intellectual commitments that originate in medieval theology. Specifically, the chapter argues that modern thinking about international order is mediated by rival theories of order that arise out of medieval dispute about the nature of God and the extent of his power. Two overriding objectives guide this investigation. The first is to provide a better intellectual history of late medieval and early modern traditions of thought and to illuminate how they shape contemporary thinking about international order. The second is to conduct a theoretical investigation of international order in terms of its presuppositions. This involves interrogating the conditions and assumptions that render the idea of international order intelligible as what it is. Uncovering this theological inheritance repositions widely shared beliefs about the place of theology in modern international thought, the debates that define the theoretical cartography of the field, and the kind of knowledge that explains the idea of international order.

scholarly journals Selling international law enforcement: Elite justifications and public values

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205316802095678
Author(s):  
Melissa M. Lee ◽  
Lauren Prather
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
International Law ◽  
Public Support ◽  
International Order ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Public Values ◽  
Norm Enforcement ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Law ◽  
Order Increase

International law enforcement is an understudied but indispensable factor for maintaining the international order. We study the effectiveness of elite justifications in building coalitions supporting the enforcement of violations of the law against territorial seizures. Using survey experiments fielded in the USA and Australia, we find that the effectiveness of two common justifications for enforcement—the illegality of a country’s actions, and the consequences of those actions for international order—increase support for enforcement and do so independently of two key public values: ideology and interpersonal norm enforcement. These results imply elites can build a broad coalition of support by using multiple justifications. Our results, however, highlight the tepidness of public support, suggesting limits to elite rhetoric. This study contributes to the scholarship on international law by showing how the public, typically considered a mechanism for generating compliance within states, can impede or facilitate third-party enforcement of the law between states.

India and Vietnam in the Indo-Pacific

2021 ◽  
pp. 097492842110049
Author(s):  
Sanjay Pulipaka ◽  
Libni Garg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Order ◽  
Territorial Aggression ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Power Shift ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Common Position ◽  
Foreign Policy Strategies

The international order today is characterised by power shift and increasing multipolarity. Countries such as India and Vietnam are working to consolidate the evolving multipolarity in the Indo-Pacific. The article maps the convergences in the Indian and Vietnamese foreign policy strategies and in their approaches to the Indo-Pacific. Both countries confront similar security challenges, such as creeping territorial aggression. Further, India and Vietnam are collaborating with the United States and Japan to maintain a favourable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. While Delhi and Hanoi agree on the need to reform the United Nations, there is still some distance to travel to find a common position on regional economic architectures. The India–Vietnam partnership demonstrates that nation-states will seek to define the structure of the international order and in this instance by increasing the intensity of multipolarity.

Introduction. Imprints of Colonialism in Public International Law: On the Paradoxes of Transition

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 239-247
Author(s):  
Jörn Axel Kämmerer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Birth Defect ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
International Order ◽  
Transdisciplinary Research ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Public International Law

The article is an introduction to subsequent articles touching upon the relevance of colonialism to the evolution of public international law. This was the topic of a transdisciplinary research project conducted by German scholars and of an international workshop, with this issue as a yield. Imperial colonialism may be perceived as a period of transition from a parallelism of mostly unconnected ‘trans-communitarian’ systems toward today’s universal international order. A paradox is inherent in decolonisation because the price of independence consisted in non-European systems being ultimately and definitely superseded by a public international law shaped almost exclusively by European powers. This ‘birth defect’ of universality explains many persisting tensions in international legal relations. It is worthwhile to assess whether public international law could draw some inspiration from approaches in the constitutional law of selected states with a colonial heritage in view of mitigating conflicts without, however, compromising the benefits inherent in universality.

The Justification of War and International Order

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
International Order ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Pertinent Literature ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Modern Times

The history of war is also a history of its justification. The contributions to this book argue that the justification of war rarely happens as empty propaganda. While it is directed at mobilizing support and reducing resistance, it is not purely instrumental. Rather, the justification of force is part of an incessant struggle over what is to count as justifiable behaviour in a given historical constellation of power, interests, and norms. This way, the justification of specific wars interacts with international order as a normative frame of reference for dealing with conflict. The justification of war shapes this order and is being shaped by it. As the justification of specific wars entails a critique of war in general, the use of force in international relations has always been accompanied by political and scholarly discourses on its appropriateness. In much of the pertinent literature the dominating focus is on theoretical or conceptual debates as a mirror of how international normative orders evolve. In contrast, the focus of the present volume is on theory and political practice as sources for the re- and de-construction of the way in which the justification of war and international order interact. The book offers a unique collection of papers exploring the continuities and changes in war discourses as they respond to and shape normative orders from early modern times to the present. It comprises contributions from International Law, History and International Relations and from Western and non-Western perspectives.

After Unipolarity: China's Visions of International Order in an Era of U.S. Decline

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall L. Schweller ◽  
Xiaoyu Pu
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
World Order ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
International Order ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
New World Order ◽  
Global Power ◽  
Rising Power ◽  
Emerging Powers

The emerging transition from unipolarity to a more multipolar distribution of global power presents a unique and unappreciated problem that largely explains why, contrary to the expectations of balance of power theory, a counterbalancing reaction to U.S. primacy has not yet taken place. The problem is that, under unipolarity and only unipolarity, balancing is a revisionist, not a status quo, behavior: its purpose is to replace the existing unbalanced unipolar structure with a balance of power system. Thus, any state that seeks to restore a global balance of power will be labeled a revisionist aggressor. To overcome this ideational hurdle to balancing behavior, a rising power must delegitimize the unipole's global authority and order through discursive and cost-imposing practices of resistance that pave the way for the next phase of full-fledged balancing and global contestation. The type of international order that emerges on the other side of the transition out of unipolarity depends on whether the emerging powers assume the role of supporters, spoilers, or shirkers. As the most viable peer competitor to U.S. power, China will play an especially important role in determining the future shape of international politics. At this relatively early stage in its development, however, China does not yet have a fixed blueprint for a new world order. Instead, competing Chinese visions of order map on to various delegitimation strategies and scenarios about how the transition from unipolarity to a restored global balance of power will develop.

The Global Governance Implications of Private International Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 892-910
Author(s):  
Horatia Muir Watt
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
National Regulation ◽  
Regulatory Constraints ◽  
Domestic Setting

The ways in which the background rules of private law determine the balance of power within the global economy are difficult to identify to the extent that the reach of any given legal system and its combination with other potentially contradictory sets of national regulation are uncertain. The specific contention here is that private international law, which allocates the various sets of applicable rules on all these points when they involve private, usually corporate, actors, has served above all to dispense them from the regulatory constraints to which they might be subject in a domestic setting. It has thereby provided the building blocks that have allowed capital to expand beyond borders and the pursuit of profit to develop to the detriment of competing values, beyond control.

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