Böcker i Routledge Library Editions: International Relations-serien

Reprint. Originally published: London, England: Allen & Unwin, 1986.

Originally published in 1978, this book examines how the states-system grew over generations, first within Europe, then world wide and how the idea of the state came to monopolise our vision of the world. It discusses the grounds for the division of humanity into separate states in reason and history and whether or not we can use terms like `obligation¿ and `justice¿ in seeking to understand our relations with people of other states.

This volume is a successor volume to The Reason of States. Part 1 discusses ways in which to understand the nature, possibility and limits of community beyond the state. Specific chapters are devoted to the practical attempts of statesmen, lawyers, strategists and economists to devise morally defensible international policies on the basis of interest. Part 3 challenges the conventional morality of states from alternative standpoints: Kantian morality, a reconsideration of the contemporary relevance of natural law, an examination of the concept of responsibility in international politics and an analysis of the role of language in the development of communities.

Rejecting the view that states may be studied in isolation from one another, and proceeding from the assumption that political theory and international theory are part of a single continuum, this collection of essays employs both comparative method and an international perspective to assess what is happening to the chief political form of our time. In doing so, it questions recent major approaches of European and American scholarship which have tended to view the state as a formation serving capital, interests or classes. The approach of these essays is legal and constitutional, highlighting the changing nature of political communities and changing patterns of government.

This book examines the interaction between the realms of ethics and international relations. The essays discuss such issues as the responsibilities of defence scientists; theological reflections on compromise; the ethics of risk-taking; the international legal protection of human rights and the collaboration of non-governmental organisations in giving individuals greater influence through international institutions.

This volume comprises the texts of the main international treaties which formed the legal skeleton of international relations during the 1980s, with details of signatories and amendments and a commentary on the general and particular situations to which they apply. The treaties are grouped broadly by subject, and chronologically within each subject group which range from political, security and economic agreements to those dealing with human rights.

Reprint of the edition published by Open University Press in 1991.