The Politics of International Law

"Today international law is everywhere. Wars are fought and opposed in its name. It is invoked to claim rights and to challenge them, to indict or support political leaders, to distribute resources and to expand or limit the powers of domestic and international institutions. International law is part of the way political (and economic) power is used, critiqued, and sometimes limited. Despite its claim for neutrality and impartiality, it is implicit in what is just, as well as what is unjust in the world. To understand its operation requires shedding its ideological spell and examining it with a cold eye. Who are its winners, and who are its losers? How - if at all - can it be used to make a better or a less unjust world? In this collection of essays Professor Martti Koskenniemi, a well-known practitioner and a leading theorist and historian of international law, examines the recent debates on humanitarian intervention, collective security, protection of human rights and the 'fight against impunity' and reflects on the use of the professional techniques of international law to intervene politically. The essays both illustrate and expand his influential theory of the role of international law in international politics. The book is prefaced with an introduction by Professor Emmanuelle Jouannet (Sorbonne Law School), which locates the texts in the overall thought and work of Martti Koskenniemi."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover 1 Prelims 2 Preface 6 Acknowledgements 12 Contents 14 Koskenniemi: A Critical Introduction 18 Part 1. The Politics of International Law 50 Chapter 1. Between Apology and Utopia: The Politics of International Law 52 Chapter 2. The Politics of International Law - 20 Years Later 80 Part 2. The Law and Politics of Collective Security 94 Chapter 3. The Place of Law in Collective Security 96 Chapter 4. 'The Lady Doth Protest Too Much': Kosovo, and the Turn to Ethics and International Law 129 Part 3. The Politics of Human Rights 148 Chapter 5. The Effect of Rights on Political Culture 150 Chapter 6. Human Rights, Politics and Love 170 Part 4. Limits and Possibilities of International Law 186 Chapter 7. Between Impunity and Show Trials 188 Chapter 8. Faith, Identity, and the Killing of the Innocent: International Lawyers and Nuclear Weapons 215 Chapter 9. International Law and Hegemony: a Reconfiguration 236 Chapter 10. What is International Law For? 258 Part 5. The Spirit of International Law 286 Chapter 11. Between Commitment and Cynicism: Outline for a Theory of International Law as Practice 288 Chapter 12. Style as Method: Letter to the Editors of the Symposium 311 Chapter 13. Miserable Comforters: International Relations as New Natural Law 324 Chapter 14. The Fate of Public International Law: Between Technique and Politics 348 Index of Names 380 Index 382 Across 14 chapters modified from essays written over the past two decades, Koskenniemi (international law, U. of Helsinki, Finland) explores different contexts in which international law takes on a contested, political appearance through the use of international law as an inseparable vocabulary for politics. Chapters are organized into sections that introduce the basic conceptual understanding of the "politics of international law" promoted herein; collective security as a platform for the use of legal argument in the context of the first Iraq crisis in 1990-91 and the debates among European lawyers during the 1999 Kosovo crisis; issues of ambition, uncertainty, innovation, and stasis in the human rights field; the operation of international law in "limit situations" in the context of crimes against humanity and nuclear weapons as compared to more routine types of institutional work and legal argument; and the politics of international law as it applies to the subject that operates the law and the specificity of legal language. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Today, international law is everywhere. Wars are declared and conducted in its name, and in its name rights are both protected and renounced. It is also international law which determines who owns and uses the world's scarcest resources. Thus, international law is part of a dangerous and unjust world - a part of how we are governed globally. But, it can also be used to challenge aspects of this world and to give voice to projects which seek to transform the institutions of global governance. In this collection of essays, Professor Martti Koskenniemi - a well known practitioner and one of the great theorists and historians of international law - examines the recent debates on humanitarian intervention, collective security, protection of human rights, and the 'fight against impunity.' Additionally, Koskenniemi reflects on the use of the professional techniques of international law to intervene politically. The essays both illustrate and expand his influential theory of the critical role of international law in international politics. Between Apology to Utopia : The Politics of International Law -- The Politics of International Law - 20 Years Later -- The Place of Law in Collective Security -- 'The Lady Doth Protest Too Much' : Kosovo, and the Turn to Ethics in International Law -- The Effect of Rights on Political Culture -- Human Rights, Politics and Love -- Between Impunity and Show Trials -- Faith, Identity, and the Killing of the Innocent : International Lawyers and Nuclear Weapons -- International Law and Hegemony : a Reconfiguration -- What is International Law For? -- Between Commitment and Cynicism : Outline for a Theory of International Law as Practice -- Style as Method : Letter to the Editors of the Symposium -- Miserable Comforters : International Relations as New Natural Law -- The Fate of Public International Law : Between Technique and Politics.