Law without Force
Subtitle: the Function of Politics in International Law
By: Gerhart Niemeyer
Contributors: Henry, Michael
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 436
ISBN-13: 9781351320641
Subjects: International law; Political aspects; Philosophy; Sociological jurisprudence; Sociologie juridique; SOCIAL SCIENCE; Sociology; General
Description: "Law Without Force is a landmark in political and social philosophy. It proposes nothing less than a completely new basis for international law. As relevant today as when it was first published nearly sixty years ago, it commands the attention of all concerned with what the future may bring to the law of nations. The great scope of Niemeyer's undertaking draws respect even from those who disagree with his challenging analysis of the historical past and his suggestions for the future of international law. In his new introduction, Michael Henry observes that Law Without Force provides us with a foundation of Niemeyer's thinking. Published in 1941, when Hitler was swallowing up Europe, this volume shows how a first-rate mind grappled with a legal, historical, social, and ultimately metaphysical problem. It provides in detail the reasoning behind Niemeyer's rejection of a foreign policy based on morality and his distinction between authoritarian and totalitarian governments; and it provides us with the first stage of his lengthy and prodigious effort to understand "this terrible century." It is a book that no serious student of Niemeyer can afford to ignore. At the very heart of the author's vigorous discussion may be found his rejection of a moral basis for international law and his suggestion that a functional basis should be substituted for it. The book incisively reviews the relation between traditional international law and the changing structure of international politics concluding that the traditional system of law has operated as an agency of disharmony and conflict. After an investigation of the traditional legal system, the author then asks, "What type of law fits the social structure of this modern world?" The answers are presented in the last part of the book, as Neimeyer offers his case for a functional system of law, divorced from moral exhortations or appeals to shattered authority. Philosophy, sociology, and legal theory are brilliantly interwoven in this volume, which will engage serious readers interested in political and social theory."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Part, Historical Introduction: A Genealogy of International Law  -- Gerhart Niemeyer; title: chapter Introduction the Unreality of International Law and the Unlawfulness of International Reality  -- Gerhart Niemeyer Michael Henry; title: chapter 1 Law in the Interdynastic Politics of Absolutism --; title: chapter 2 The Role of International Law During the Period of Liberalism and Imperialism --; title: chapter 3 The Place of Law in the World Politics of Today --; title: part, I The Function of Law in International Politics  -- Gerhart Niemeyer; title: part, Sociological Introduction: The Connotations of Politics  -- Gerhart Niemeyer Michael Henry; title: chapter IV Moral Idealism and Political Realism in International Law --; title: chapter 5 The Sociological Background of International Law --; title: chapter 6 Making International Law Work --; title: part, II Legal Theory and Political Reality  -- Gerhart Niemeyer Michael Henry; title: part, Philosophical Introduction: The Significance of Function  -- Gerhart Niemeyer; title: chapter 7 The Notion of the State --; title: chapter VIII The Conception of The Legal Rule --; title: chapter 9 Organization or Orientation --; title: part, III A Reconstruction of International Law -- Gerhart Niemeyer.