The Power of Deliberation
International Law, Politics and Organizations
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:28th Apr '11
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Arguing about matters of public policy is ubiquitous in democracies. The ability to resolve conflicts through peaceful contestation is a measure of any well-ordered society. Arguing is almost as ubiquitous in international affairs, yet it is not viewed as an important element of world order. In The Power of Deliberation: International Law, Politics and Organizations, Ian Johnstone challenges the assumption that arguing is mere lip service with no real impact on the behavior of states or the structure of the international system. Johnstone focuses on legal argumentation and asks why, if the rhetoric of law is inconsequential, governments and other international actors bother engaging in it. Johnstone joins the efforts of international relations scholars and democracy theorists who consider why argumentation occurs beyond nation states. He focuses on deliberation in and around international organizations, drawing on various strands of legal, political and international relations theory to identify common features of legal argumentation and deliberative politics. Johnstone's central claim is that international organizations are places where "interpretive communities" coalesce, and the quality of the deliberations these communities provoke is a measure of the legitimacy of the organization.
"If any organization holds insights on the power--and the limits--of deliberation, it is the United Nations. It offers both ample proof of the relevance of policy dialogue and legal discourse in international affairs and daily examples of results born out of consultation. This timely book profits greatly from the insights collected by Ian Johnstone during his years at the General Secretariat. Combined with his penetrating analysis of sophisticated legal and political theory and carefully chosen case studies, they make The Power of Deliberation a truly fascinating account of why and how argumentation influences world politics." --KOFI ANNAN Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2006) "In The Power of Deliberation, Ian Johnstone makes a distinctive and persuasive argument for why international law matters. In careful studies of humanitarian intervention, counter-terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation, peacekeeping and trade, he shows that international law matters because it serves as a uniquely powerful vocabulary for justificatory deliberation. States debate the law more than they follow the law. These international legal arguments shape how states persuade each other and how they explain their actions at home, showing the extent to which the power of deliberation is the power of the better legal argument." --MICHAEL DOYLE Harold Brown Professor of International Affairs, Law and Political Science, Columbia University
ISBN: 9780195394931
Dimensions: 160mm x 236mm x 28mm
Weight: 490g
240 pages