Book Reviews: Michael Byers (ed.), The Role of Law in International Politics: Essays in International Relations and International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, 354 pp., £50.00 hbk.)
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030906 |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Andreas Behnke |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
936
Michael Byers (ed.), The Role o f Law i n Internatio nal Politics: Essa ys in
International Relations and International Law (Oxford : Oxford University P ress,
2000, 354 pp., £50.00 hbk.).
Does law matte r in international politics? The imagery of the dust jacket of this
book seems to suggest that it does not. A group of lawyers, hu nched over legal
texts and documents, is relegated into the background by the superimposed image
of an F/A18 fighter jet. The contra st between the dynamic image of the plane and
the static backdrop of bookshelves and b ook spi nes sugg ests that the reality of
internatio nal po litics i s dominated by the exercise of ‘mig ht’ through military
power, rather than throu gh the sterile and rarefied pursuit of ‘right’ in tomes of
legal t exts. Fortunate ly, the differen t essays i n this vo lume provide a more
sophisticat ed and mult i-faceted discussion of the relationship between law and
politics. It is one of the strengths of the bo ok that it addresse s the relevance of la w
within a broad variety of issue areas, which range from en vironmental politi cs to
human rights to le gal problems of economic glob alisation. However, the very
diversity of this es say collection also inheres a numbe r of problems.
First, it is regrettable th at none of the chapters deals with what is still one of the
central problems in this debate, namely the relationship b etween internati onal law
and the use of force. Whi le the book orig inated in a confere nce that took place one
year before NATO’s bombing campa ign against Yugoslavi a, the importance of thi s
issue shou ld have convinced the editor to include a chapte r on this topic. While the
individual chapters provide interesting insights into the role of law in different
political issue areas, what po litical scien tists will miss is a more systematic and
thorough examination of t he relation ship between law and po litics. For the most
part, this link age is dealt with in an implicit and unreflected manner. Despite
stressing the close connection between politics and law, most of the authors avoid a
deeper conc eptual or theoretical debate.
There i s, however, a common assumption und erlying most of the ch apters. One
might call this an ‘attitude of suspicion’ towards politics. This attitude is most
clearly detectabl e in the frequent assertions that law needs to retain its relative
autonomy from p olitics in orde r to be ab le to restrain or counteract p olitics for the
benefit of justice, progress, or efficiency. The most radical expression of this way
of thinking is foun d in Philip Allott’s chapter, where international law is tasked
with the formulatio n of a ‘n ew paradigm’ for int ernational society and a ‘new ideal
of h uman self-constitu ting’ (p. 88). Against this telos, international politics i s cast
as a c orrupted and impoveri shed reality internationa l law is called upon to
overcome.
For Martti Koskeniemmi on the other hand, th e efficac y of internati onal law
depends on its firm an choring in a structure that preserves its formal vali dity
against the de mands of international politics. P olitics, in this view, is something
that needs t o be constrained by a n exogenous power, and law can only main tain its
power if it insists on v alidity as an ext ra-political criterion for its operation. Anne-
Marie Slaughter’s chapter on government networks provides yet anothe r
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