Three Images of “Global Community”: Theorizing Law and Community in a Multicultural World

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-79
Author(s):  
Asher Alkoby
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
International Law ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Global Community ◽  
The Third ◽  
Meaningful Role

AbstractThis article uncovers the normative commitments underlying discussions on compliance and institutional design in international law and international relations (IR) theory through an examination of the concept of “global community” in different disciplinary discourses. Three images of global community are conjured in these theoretical discussions: the pluralist, the solidarist, and the discursive. After outlining the first two and discussing the critiques waged against them, the article seeks to defend the third image, which offers an approach to global social integration that is both culturally attuned and ambitious in scope. Drawing on critical IR theory, political philosophy as well as discursive theories of law, the article argues that the proposed image of global community holds the potential to successfully resolve the inherent tension between order, justice and cultural diversity, and where international law may play a meaningful role.

scholarly journals Anarchy in International Relations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silviya Lechner
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Society ◽  
English School ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Interaction Domain ◽  
Alternative Discourse ◽  
The Third ◽  
Analytical Review ◽  
International Anarchy

The concept of anarchy is seen as the cardinal organizing category of the discipline of International Relations (IR), which differentiates it from cognate disciplines such as Political Science or Political Philosophy. This article provides an analytical review of the scholarly literature on anarchy in IR, on two levels—conceptual and theoretical. First, it distinguishes three senses of the concept of anarchy: (1) lack of a common superior in an interaction domain; (2) chaos or disorder; and (3) horizontal relation between nominally equal entities, sovereign states. The first and the third senses of “anarchy”’ are central to IR. Second, it considers three broad families of IR theory where anarchy figures as a focal assumption—(1) realism and neorealism, (2) English School theory (international society approach), and (3) Kant’s republican peace. Despite normative and conceptual differences otherwise, all three bodies of theory are ultimately based on Hobbes’s argument for a “state of nature.” The article concludes with a summary of the key challenges to the discourse of international anarchy posed by the methodology of economics and economics-based theories that favor the alternative discourse of global hierarchy.

International Relations Theory, International Law, and the Regime Governing Atrocities in Internal Conflicts

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Abbott
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Internal Conflicts ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Cross Fertilization

Over the last ten years, international relations (IR) theory, a branch of political science, has animated some of the most exciting scholarship in international law.1 If a true joint discipline has not yet emerged,2 scholars in both fields have clearly established the value of interdisciplinary cross-fertilization. Yet IR—like international law—comprises several distinct theoretical approaches or “methods.” While this complexity makes interactions between the disciplines especially rich, it also makes them difficult to explore concisely. This essay thus constitutes something of a minisymposium in itself: it summarizes the four principal schools of IR theory—conventionally identified as “realist,” “institutionalist,” “liberal” and “constructivist”—and then applies them to the norms and institutions governing serious violations of human dignity during internal conflicts (the “atrocities regime”).

State Theory in International Relations

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas G. Freire ◽  
Marjo Koivisto
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
State Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
History Of Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Political Communities

The state is one of the most used terms in international relations (IR) theory, and yet IR scholars influenced by both sociology and political philosophy have complained that the state and the states-system have been inadequately theorized in the field. What does the discipline mean when referring to the state? Why should state theorizing be part of IR at all? Need all state theorizing in IR be “state-centric”? There are two kinds of thinking about the state and the states-system in IR. One strand examines the history of thought about the purpose of the state and the states-system as political communities. Another explains the causes of events and transformations in the state and the states-system. These two approaches to studying the state largely translate to (1) political theory about the state and the states-system, and (2) social scientific theories of the state and the states-system in IR. Recently, both traditions have been significantly revisited in IR, and new productive synergies are emerging.

Jawaharlal Nehru: Panchsheel and India's Constitutional Vision of International Order

1989 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-323
Author(s):  
D.P. Verma
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
World Order ◽  
International Order ◽  
The Third ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
Moral Conduct ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru

The law of nations was not concocted by ‘bookworms’, ‘jurists’ or ‘professors’, but was created and elaborated by the deeds of statesmen, diplomats, generals, and admirals.1 This statement of the celebrated English jurist, Professor Holland, appears very much true, when attention is given to the achievements of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. Being a world statesman, he projected India's constitutional vision of international order, which reflects in the doctrine of Panchsheel, as five principles of peace. The aim of this paper is to study, in general, Nehru's contribution to the maintenance of peace, good neighbourliness and the idea of moral conduct in international relations. To keep this paper within limits, it is addressed to two objectives: First, a survey of the Constituent Assembly debates in order to provide an account of the thoughts of the framers of the Indian Constitution and to find out how far Nehru's ideas influenced the drafting of articles relating to India's international relations; and Second, an evaluation of the concept of Panchsheel that characterizes the development of International Law in Asia. It is also felt useful to take this opportunity to note Nehru's idea of peace and the Asian phase of his political thought. It will be concluded that Nehru's Panchsheel message reflected India's constitutional vision of world order, and it will be further submitted in respect of the doctrine that the contribution has, at least, at the normative level, strengthened the regime of the principles of International Law and peace. The paper is divided into four parts. The first part deals with Nehru's constitutional vision; the second discusses his idea of peace and the third analyses the doctrine. Finally, the fourth part is the conclusion.

scholarly journals The Struggle for Recognition or Enhancement of Satus: Conditions for the Stability and Development of Unrecognized States Using the Example of Eurasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-219
Author(s):  
Maxim Bratersky ◽  
◽  
Andrei Skriba ◽  
Arina Sapogova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International System ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
International Recognition ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Struggle For Recognition

In this article, the prospects or changing the status of unrecognized states in Greater Eurasia are analyzed. Status and recognition are close but distinct categories in international relations (IR) theory and international law. Status defines a state’s rank in the hierarchical international system. Recognition is a different category; legally, it defines whether other states recognize a particular state as fully established and sovereign. Sovereignty is a third category related to the issue of recognition but not equal to it since it includes internal and external (international) sovereignty. There are examples of sovereign states that effectively control their territories and collect taxes, but which are not recognized as sovereign by other states. The analysis in this article focuses on whether an unrecognized state can strengthen its status and improve its position in the international system. It is argued that this is possible, and that the absence of international recognition should not be regarded as an unsurpassable impediment to the economic development of the country.

scholarly journals Open Society According Henri Bergson: Its Political Expressions and Anthropological Substantiation

Politologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-63
Author(s):  
Povilas Aleksandravičius
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Henri Bergson ◽  
Open Society ◽  
The Third

The paper seeks to reveal the Bergson’s conception of open society. In the first part, three concrete political expressions of the open society are identified that are sprea­ding in international relations and inside the society. The second part is aimed at showing that the open society is not a society without borders or limits and it does not pose any dangers to cherishing of identities: Bergson’s concept of duration, the source of his political philosophy, establishes identities by providing the foundation for the dynamic process of their maturation through openness. The anthropological substantiation of the open society that was begun in this part is continued in the third part of the paper that analyses the factors of closing and opening, their roots in nature, human nature and vital impetus.

Why Comparative International Law Needs International Relations Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Abebe
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter challenges the conventional wisdom that international relations theory has nothing to offer scholars interested in comparative international law. It argues that comparativists should not underestimate the value of international relations theory in explaining how and why certain states adopt particular interpretations of international law. While international relations theory cannot explain the evolution of specific doctrines, it can be very useful in understanding the general approaches to international law that states embrace. The chapter develops the connection between domestic institutional design and the interpretation of international law on one side, and realism, institutionalism, and liberalism on the other. It argues that greater consideration of the relationship among power, domestic institutional design, and international relations theory paradigms will not only prove fruitful for the comparative international law project but also for those thinking about the aims of international law and the operation of international politics.

Comparative International Law, Foreign Relations Law, and Fragmentation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. Stephan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Third ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
Distinct Field

This chapter considers the rise of foreign relations law as a way of thinking about the legal dimensions of international relations. It connects this development to the emergence of comparative international law and anxieties about fragmentation in international law. Each of these fields challenges conventional ways of thinking about international law and thus seems to bolster those who would dismiss international law as irrelevant or ineffectual. The chapter proceeds in three sections. The first describes contemporary foreign relations law as a distinct field that emerged in the United States in the late 1990s and developed independently in parts of the British Commonwealth and Europe. It traces the parallels with and differences between foreign relations law and comparative international law. The second section considers the possibility these complementary trends, as well as concerns about fragmentation, pose a threat to international law as conventionally conceived. The third section responds to these concerns.

scholarly journals Kant, the Republican Peace, and Moral Guidance in International Law

1994 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 39-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecelia Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Ideal

Just as Niccolò Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes became etched into the minds of international relations scholars as the oracles of realpolitik during the Cold War, Immanuel Kant appears to be well on his way to becoming the prophet of “progressive international reform” in the post—Cold War era. Not only has Kant's thought provided the underpinnings of one of the major traditions of international law, but there is a groundswell of interest among international relations scholars today in the question of whether contemporary events, particularly the proliferation of republican states and attempts to create them, signal the march forward to the Kantian ideal of republican peace. Yet, prior to asking what contemporary events signify for the attainment of the Kantian ideal, we should analyze the conflicting interpretions fo Kantian political thought so as to understand the meaning and implications of the ideal itself. Such a task is not merely pedantie—it is necessary to determine the utility of political philosophy for providing understanding and guidance in the real world.

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