Description
Book SynopsisInternational law has recently emerged as the subject-matter of an exciting new field of philosophical investigation. The Philosophy of International Law contains 29 cutting-edge essays by leading philosophers and international lawyers, all published here in English for the first time, that address the central philosophical questions about international law. The volume''s overarching theme is the moral and political values that should guide the assessment and development of international law and institutions. Some of the essays tackle general topics such as the sources and legitimacy of international law, the nature of international legal adjudication, whether international law can or should aspire to be ''democratic'', and the significance of state sovereignty. The other contributions address philosophical problems arising in specific domains of international law, such as human rights law, international economic law, international criminal law, international environmental law, and the
Trade Reviewheartily recommended ... demonstrates the best sort of international collaborative cosmopolitanism ... it will be a source of challenging ideas and the subject of useful engagement as students develop their own perspective on the global possibilites for the rule of law. * Political Studies Review *
Samantha Besson and John Tasioulas have done lawyers, scholars and the public an enormous service in their volume The Philosophy of International Law by raising the level of debate about the moral and political standards that should govern the assessment (and development) of international institutions... Besson and Tasioulas, the guiding lights behind this project, represent a brilliant new generation of philosophers speaking directly to a new generation of lawyers about international law - and they have manafed to gather many of the most perceptive and serious scholars on the subject together in one volume... This is an exciting and very important volume. * Mortimer Sellers, Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law, University of Maryland *
[A]n impressive collection on conceptual issues in academic law. * John Morss, International and Comparative Law Quarterly *
...this is a deep, serious and profound work. It achieves its agenda-shaping aim, and looks set to become the standard work on its subject. * ASIL *
...what international law today needs is exactly the kind of systematic and normative thinking about its structures and implications that Besson, Tasioulas, and their co-authors exercise in this book. * Isabelle Ley, Global Law Books *
The Philosophy of International Law can be heartily recommended ... a source of challenging ideas * Christopher May, International Relations *
Certainly the book ought to be considered a wonderful introduction to students in liberal philosophy and/or international law. Rarely delving into specialized terms of either academic tradition, the book is accessible and intellectually tich. * Sahib Singh, Austrian Review of International and European Law *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; PART I GENERAL ISSUES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ; SECTION I HISTORY OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ; 1. State of Nature versus Commercial Sociability as the Basis of International Law: Reflections on the Roman Foundations and Current Interpretations of the International Political and Legal Thought of Grotius, Hobbes and Pufendorf ; 2. Immanuel Kant on International Law ; SECTION II LEGITIMACY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ; 3. The Legitimacy of International Law ; 4. The Legitimacy of International Law ; SECTION III INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ; 5. Democratic Legitimacy and International Institutions ; 6. Legitimate International Institutions: A Neo-Republican Perspective ; SECTION IV SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ; 7. Theorizing the Sources of International Law ; 8. The Sources of International Law: Some Philosophical Reflections ; SECTION V INTERNATIONAL ADJUDICATION ; 9. International Adjudication ; 10. International Adjudication: A Response to Paulus - Courts, Custom, Treaties, Regimes, and the WTO ; SECTION VI SOVEREIGNTY ; 11. The Logic of Freedom and Power ; 12. Sovereignty in the Context of Globalization: A Constitutional Pluralist Perspective ; SECTION VII INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY ; 13. International Responsibility ; 14. International Responsibility ; PART II SPECIFIC ISSUES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ; SECTION VIII HUMAN RIGHTS ; 15. Human Rights without Foundations ; 16. Human Rights and the Autonomy of International Law ; 17. Human Rights ; SECTION IX SELF-DETERMINATION AND MINORITY RIGHTS ; 18. Minority Rights in Political Philosophy and International Law ; 19. Two Conception of Self Determination ; SECTION X INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW ; 20. The Role of International Law in Reproducing Massive Poverty ; 21. Global Justice, Poverty and the International Economic Order ; SECTION XI INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ; 22. Philosophical Issues in International Environmental Law ; 23. Ethics and International Environmental Law ; SECTION XII LAWS OF WAR ; 24. The Laws of War ; 25. Laws of War ; SECTION XIII HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION ; 26. Humanitarian Intervention ; 27. Humanitarian Militarism? ; SECTION XIV INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW ; 28. Fairness to Rightness: Jurisdiction, Legality, and the Legitimacy of International Criminal Law ; 29. Authority and Responsibility in International Criminal Law
