Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

How to Do Things with International Law, Paperback / softback Book

How to Do Things with International Law Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Description

A provocative reassessment of the rule of law in world politicsConventionally understood as a set of limits on state behavior, the “rule of law” in world politics is widely assumed to serve as a progressive contribution to a just, stable, and predictable world.

In How to Do Things with International Law, Ian Hurd challenges this received wisdom.

Bringing the study of law and legality together with power, politics, and legitimation, he illustrates the complex politics of the international rule of law. Hurd draws on a series of timely case studies involving recent legal arguments over war, torture, and drones to demonstrate that international law not only domesticates state power but also serves as a permissive and even empowering source of legitimation for state action—including violence and torture.

Rather than a civilizing force that holds the promise of universal peace, international law is a deeply politicized set of practices driven by the pursuit of particular interests and desires.

The disputes so common in world politics over what law permits and what it forbids are, therefore, fights over the legitimating effect of legality. A reconsideration of the rule of law in world politics and its relationship to state power, How to Do Things with International Law examines how and why governments use and manipulate international law in foreign policy.

Information

Other Formats

Save 4%

£18.99

£18.15

 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information