Book Review: Willem J. M. Van Genugten et al. (eds.), Realism and Moralism in International Relations: Essays in Honor of Frans A.M. Alting Von Geusau (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1999, 291 pp., $92 hbk.)
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Seán Molloy |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030916 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
954
efficient introduction to poststructuralism without pointing out how it is possible to
begin asking a transformati ve questio n.
HAKAN SECKINEL GIN
Hakan Seck inelgin is Lecturer in the Centre for Civil Society, Depart ment of Social
Policy, at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Willem J. M. Van Genug ten et al. (e ds.), Realism and Moralism in International
Relation s: Essays in Honor of Frans A.M. Alting Von Geusau (The Hague: Kluwer
Law International, 1999, 291 pp., $92 hbk.).
The realism-idealis m debate in internationa l re lations has prod uced some
foundatio nal texts o f inte rnational relations. Works su ch as E.H. Carr’s Th e Twenty
Years’ Crisis and Hans M orgenthau’s Scie ntific Man Versus Powe r Politics
provided the cou nterpoint to the liberal internationa l writers after the F irst World
War and set the theore tical agenda of intern ational relations. As the introduction to
the volume state s, Vo n Geusau’s career has been cha racterised by a desire to
balance Realism in internat ional relation s with moral and ethical counterweights.
Although a specialist in internatio nal law, Von Geusau has contribute d to such
issues as culture in international politic s and the role of internat ional organisations
within internat ional society.
In reco gnition of his diverse achie vements, the editors have div ided the book into
four p arts with the aim of preserving the thread of th e realism-moralism debate as
its unifying c haracteristic. T he first chapter entitled ‘Pa st, Present, and Future o f
Europe’, is an at tempt to address the evolut ion o f European politics from the
collapse of c ommunism to the turn of the century. The sec ond chapter
‘Internatio nal Organisation s’ co ntains articles on the efficacy and applicability o f
internatio nal law. The third chapt er, ‘Moral Issues in a Globalizing W orld’, is the
keynote section of the book, in which the confrontation between globalisation and
morality is played out ag ainst a number o f competing theo retical perspectives. T he
fourth chapter is an imaginative attempt to integrate the cultural into the political
sphere.
While t his structure provide s a diverse series of art icles from a numb er of
perspective s, there is a clear lack of foc us in the book, as t he unifying thread is lost
in favour of the chapter themes. This is most pronounce d in the problematic first
and second sections of the book. T he rea lism-moralism debate is no t add ressed
properly in either sect ion, as the articles a re concer ned with the development of
integratio n processes i n Western and East ern Europe. While it could be argued that
structural initi atives are the very stuff of liberal internat ional thoug ht as the vehic les
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