Legal Positivism in a Global and Transnational Age (Law and Philosophy Library Book 131)

A theme of growing importance in both the law and philosophy and socio-legal literature is how regulatory dynamics can be identified (that is, conceptualised and operationalised) and normative expectations met in an age when transnational actors operate on a global plane and in increasingly fragmented and transformative contexts. A reconsideration of established theories and axiomatic findings on regulatory phenomena is an essential part of this discourse. There is indeed an urgent need for discontinuity regarding what we (think we) know about, among other things, law, legality, sovereignty and political legitimacy, power relations, institutional design and development, and pluralist dynamics of ordering under processes of globalisation and transnationalism. Making an important contribution to the scholarly debate on the subject, this volume features original and much-needed essays of theoretical and applied legal philosophy as well as socio-legal accounts that reflect on whether legal positivism has anything to offer to this intellectual enterprise. This is done by discussing whether global and transnational cultural, socio-political, economic, and juridical challenges as well as processes of diversification, fragmentation, and transformation (significantly, de-formalisation) reinforce or weaken legal positivists’ assumptions, claims, and methods. The themes covered include, but are not limited to, absolute and limited state sovereignty; the ‘new international legal positivism’; Hartian legal positivism and the ‘normative positivist’ account; the relationship between modern secularisation, social conventionalism, and meta-ontological issues of temporality in postnational jurisprudence; the social positivisation of human rights; the formation and content of jus cogens norms; feminist critique; the global and transnational migration of principles of justice and morality; the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties rule of interpretation; and the responsibility of transnational corporations. Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 Contributors 9 Legal Positivism in a Global and Transnational Age: Introduction 10 1 Rationale and Scope 10 2 Outline of the Volume 39 References 46 Part I: Legal Positivism, the State, and International Legal Theory 54 About the Impossibility of Absolute State Sovereignty. The Modern Era and the Early Legal Positivist Claim 55 1 Introduction 56 2 Self-ownership, Sovereignty and Different Types of Constraints 58 3 Modern Times: Between Legal Positivism and Sovereignty 63 3.1 In Continental Europe, Bodin 65 3.2 In England, Hobbes 66 3.3 Not Only Bodin and Hobbes 69 4 Conclusion 70 References 71 Taking Legal Positivism Beyond the State: Finding Secondary Rules? 73 1 Introduction 74 2 International Law as a Primitive Legal Order? Taking Hart to Task 76 3 International Law as a Legal System: Finding Secondary Rules? 81 4 Thinking Functionally About Law? Methodological Challenges to Hartian Legal Positivism 88 5 Conclusion 95 References 96 New International Legal Positivism: Formalism by Another Name? 100 1 Introduction 100 2 Kammerhofer and Kelsen 101 2.1 ``[A] Mere Scheme of Analysis ́ ́ 104 2.2 ``[N]ormative Alternatives, ́ ́ Austrian Constitutions, and Dichotomy/Dialectic 108 3 d ́Aspremont, Hart, and ``Belief ́ ́ 112 3.1 The ``Source Thesis ́ ́, the ``Social Thesis ́ ́, and the ``Culture of Formalism ́ ́ 113 3.2 ``International Law as a Belief System ́ ́ 119 4 Conclusion: The Form, the Ideal, and the Real 123 References 125 Part II: Legal Positivism and Social Practices 127 Legal Positivism as Tekhnē: Postnational Normative Ontology and the Positivist Effectual Temporality 128 1 Introduction 129 2 Ontology and Temporality: The Thought of the Early Heidegger 135 3 Legal Positivism as Tekhnē 140 4 The Effectual Temporality of Modern Secularisation and Social Conventionalism 146 5 Conclusion 152 References 154 Barking Up the Wrong Tree? Systems Theory and the `Social Positivisation ́ of Human Rights 160 1 Introduction 161 2 The Social Positivisation of Human Rights 164 3 Some Problems with the Social Positivisation of Human Rights 169 4 A Series of `Turns ́ Away from the Functional Perspective 172 5 Conclusion 179 References 181 Before and After Legal Positivity: Peremptory Norms from Global and Transnational Social Practice 184 1 Introduction 184 2 Legal Positivism and Peremptory Norms 185 3 Legal Practice and the Minimum Content of Natural Law 194 4 Legal Practice, Reasons and Peremptory Rules 200 5 Integration and Fragmentation of Legal Orders 208 6 Conclusion 212 References 214 Part III: Beyond Legal Positivism? 218 Positivism and the Peace/Power Dialectic: Feminist Reflections in a Transnational Age 219 1 Introduction 220 2 What Is Law? The Hegemony of Positivism 223 3 Myth and Attachment 231 4 Positivism: A Methodology for Peace and the Peace/Power Dialectic 238 5 The Paradox of Rights: Making Positivism Respectable 243 6 Beyond a de minimis Standard: Feminism et al 247 7 Conclusion 251 References 252 Beyond Legal Positivism in Transnational Law 257 1 Introduction 257 2 The Emergence of Transnational Law and Justice 259 3 Is Legal Positivism Appropriate as a Paradigm? The Limits of Legal Positivism 265 4 Legal Interpretation and Cosmopolitanism 269 5 Some Case Studies 271 6 Conclusion 277 References 277 How Post-Positivism Sheds Light on Treaty Interpretation: Celebrating the VCLT Rule of Interpretation 280 1 Street Lights, Successful Practice and International Legal Don Quixotism 280 2 Post-Positivism, Geology, Cubism 283 2.1 Beyond Ascertainment 284 2.2 Beyond Internationality 286 2.3 Beyond Disciplinarity 287 3 Lessons for and from the VCLT 288 3.1 From Ascertainment to Argument 288 3.2 Transnational Interpretation 289 3.3 Transdisciplinary Interpretation 291 4 A Cubistic Conclusion 293 References 294 Responsibility of Corporations in International Law: Positivism and Transnationalism Revisited 298 1 Introduction: Nature of the Challenge 298 2 Between Jessup and Hart: What International Law Is and Should Do 300 3 The Corporation in International Law 303 4 Big Elephant in the Room: Positivism 308 5 Conclusion 312 References 313 "A theme of growing importance in both the law and philosophy and socio-legal literature is how regulatory dynamics can be identified (that is, conceptualised and operationalised) and normative expectations met in an age when transnational actors operate on a global plane and in increasingly fragmented and transformative contexts. A reconsideration of established theories and axiomatic findings on regulatory phenomena is an essential part of this discourse. There is indeed an urgent need for discontinuity regarding what we (think we) know about, among other things, law, legality, sovereignty and political legitimacy, power relations, institutional design and development, and pluralist dynamics of ordering under processes of globalisation and transnationalism. Making an important contribution to the scholarly debate on the subject, this volume features...essays of theoretical and applied legal philosophy as well as socio-legal accounts that reflect on whether legal positivism has anything to offer to this intellectual enterprise. This is done by discussing whether global and transnational cultural, socio-political, economic, and juridical challenges as well as processes of diversification, fragmentation, and transformation (significantly, de-formalisation) reinforce or weaken legal positivists' assumptions, claims, and methods. The themes covered include, but are not limited to, absolute and limited state sovereignty; the 'new international legal positivism'; Hartian legal positivism and the 'normative positivist' account; the relationship between modern secularisation, social conventionalism, and meta-ontological issues of temporality in postnational jurisprudence; the social positivisation of human rights; the formation and content of jus cogens norms; feminist critique; the global and transnational migration of principles of justice and morality; the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties rule of interpretation; and the responsibility of transnational corporations"-- Back cover Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Legal Positivism in a Global and Transnational Age: Introduction (Luca Siliquini-Cinelli)....Pages 1-44 Front Matter ....Pages 45-45 About the Impossibility of Absolute State Sovereignty. The Modern Era and the Early Legal Positivist Claim (Jorge Emilio Núñez)....Pages 47-64 Taking Legal Positivism Beyond the State: Finding Secondary Rules? (Richard Collins)....Pages 65-91 New International Legal Positivism: Formalism by Another Name? (Matthew Nicholson)....Pages 93-119 Front Matter ....Pages 121-121 Legal Positivism as Tekhnē: Postnational Normative Ontology and the Positivist Effectual Temporality (Luca Siliquini-Cinelli)....Pages 123-154 Barking Up the Wrong Tree? Systems Theory and the ‘Social Positivisation’ of Human Rights (Mark Patrick Hanna)....Pages 155-178 Before and After Legal Positivity: Peremptory Norms from Global and Transnational Social Practice (Mark D. Retter)....Pages 179-212 Front Matter ....Pages 213-213 Positivism and the Peace/Power Dialectic: Feminist Reflections in a Transnational Age (Kimberley Brayson)....Pages 215-252 Beyond Legal Positivism in Transnational Law (Ioanna Tourkochoriti)....Pages 253-275 How Post-Positivism Sheds Light on Treaty Interpretation: Celebrating the VCLT Rule of Interpretation (Christian Djeffal)....Pages 277-294 Responsibility of Corporations in International Law: Positivism and Transnationalism Revisited (Basil Ugochukwu)....Pages 295-312