Description
Scitus Academics LLC Research Handbook on the Politics of International Law by Garrick Elwin
Law and politics are deeply entwined. Law is a vital tool of government
action, an instrument with which government tries to influence society. Law
is also the means by which government itself is structured, regulated and
controlled. It is no surprise, then, that law is an important prize in the
political struggle and that law shapes how politics is conducted. The
scholarly study of law and politics is a growing and assorted field. The range
of scholarship in the area reflects the wide scope of issues and questions
that are relevant to the field of law and politics and that invite new and
further study. Law and politics create their own particular pictures of reality.
Sometimes those pictures overlap, sometimes they differ. Yet, there is
something that the law should never include in its sphere; namely, the
differentiation of adversaries according to a purely political criterion. This
leads to a strict separation between "ours" and "yours", or, in its most radical
expression, to a strict separation between friend and enemy. When the latter
occurs, politics inevitably prevails over the law, and reduces or damages the
autonomy of the rule of law. The diversity of scholarly interest in law and
politics also reflects the interdisciplinary conversation that the field invites.
Research Handbook on the Politics of International Law presents the studies
for comparative analysis of politics and international law at different stages
of governance and in different governance systems. It examines some basic
characteristics of the relationship between national and international law
and politics. The text introduces the theoretical frameworks, empirical
cases, policy instruments, and cutting-edge discussions in the field of
international law from an International Relations perspective. It will examine
the interrelationships between international politics and international law in
several specialized areas of international law, such as human rights, the
environment, international criminal justice, trade, and/or the use of force.