The task of the present chapter, if done properly, would be a task for Hercules. As was shown in the previous chapter, what we are called upon to do in constructing a normative theory of international relations must involve at least the following steps. First, we must list all those norms in international relations that are considered settled in terms of the modern state domain of discourse. Second, we must attempt to construct the best possible background justification for this settled body of norms. Third, following through on step two, we must apply the procedure of reflective equilibrium. Fourth, with the aid of the background theory we must generate answers to some of the hard cases facing international relations theorists. Since none of us has the capacities of a Hercules we must rest content with something less, something altogether more schematic.

Before proceeding with the work at hand it is worth noticing how the end of the Cold War has decisively eradicated what was once taken to be a major objection to this project. During the period of bipolar world politics the suggestion that there existed a set of settled norms which could be distilled out from the modern state domain of discourse was often greeted with scepticism by critics who would point out that communist states merely pretended to accept these norms, but were in fact committed to the transformation (and indeed the complete abolition) of the system of sovereign states.