Issue 26.3
Echoes of a Forgotten Past: Mid-Century Realism and the Legacy of International Law
Those studying the work of Hans J. Morgenthau, widely considered the “founding father” of the Realist School of International Relations, have long been baffled by his views on world government and the attainment of a world state—views that, it would appear, are strikingly incompatible with the author’s realism.
The Peculiar Politics of Energy [Full Text]
BY ANN FLORINI. The provision of energy services is a matter of basic distributional justice, which the world is failing to achieve.
Fall 2012 (Issue 26.3)
This issue features an essay by Ann Florini on the global governance of energy; articles by Janina Dill and Henry Shue on the undue moralization of war and Ned Dobos on humanitarian intervention and the problem of mediated consequences; review essays by Tom Farer on the history and future of humanitarianism and Oliver Jütersonke on classical realism and international law; and book reviews.
Humanity’s Law by Ruti G. Teitel
In the last years of the twentieth century, at least partly as a result of the end of the cold war, the language of universal humanity spread throughout diplomacy and international institutions. The cost of this has been the abstraction of political discourse, which has made invisible the reality of political choices: the way some will win, others lose.
The International Human Rights Movement: A History by Aryeh Neier
Aryeh Neier has written a fluent and engaging history of the international human rights movement, of which he is a senior statesman. But his “history” is really a series of essays, only a couple of which offer deeper historical context for the American branch of the human rights movement—which Neier helped launch.
The Problem of Harm in World Politics: Theoretical Investigations by Andrew Linklater
Linklater engages in a sustained reflection on the core theoretical issues surrounding the problem of harm in world politics. His goal, as he puts it, is to theorize harm, not to develop a theory of harm
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama
REVIEW BY JACK SNYDER. What is the historical secret leading to stable political orders?
Briefly Noted
This section contains a round-up of recent notable books in the field of international affairs.