Towards a normative theory of international relations : a critical analysis of the philosophical and methodological assumptions in the discipline with proposals towards a substantive normative theory
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Bibliographic Information
Towards a normative theory of international relations : a critical analysis of the philosophical and methodological assumptions in the discipline with proposals towards a substantive normative theory
Cambridge University Press, 1986
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Note
Based on the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Stellenbosch, 1983
Bibliography: p. 230-235
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
When is war justified? When is intervention in the domestic affairs of other states justified? Is international terrorist activity ever justified? Is the policy of nuclear deterrence morally defensible? These questions are clearly of the utmost importance, yet scholars in the discipline of international relations have for the most part avoided moral theory. Part One of this book examines the reasons put forward (or implicitly accepted) for ignoring moral theory and finds that none of them stands up to close scrutiny. In Part Two a start is made towards the construction of a normative theory which will be useful in seeking answers to the crucial questions listed above. The theory put forward is called constitutive theory and it is argued that constitutive theory is more satisfactory than utilitarianism, order-based theories or rights-based theories. In the final chapter constitutive theory is applied to the moral problems surrounding international terrorism.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I: 1. The positivist bias: a philosophical assumption which accounts for the dearth of normative theory in the discipline of international relations
- 2. Sceptical and realist arguments against normative theory in international relations: a critical appraisal
- Part II: 3. Normative issues in international relations: the domain of discourse and the method of argument
- 4. Towards the construction of a normative theory of international relations
- 5. Reconciling rights and sovereignty: the constitutive theory of individuality
- 6. The justification of unconventional violence in international relations: a hard case for normative theory
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index.
by "Nielsen BookData"