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6 - Wanted – Dead or Alive

Realism in International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2013

By
Richard H. Steinberg
Edited by
Jeffrey L. Dunoff  and
Mark A. Pollack
Jeffrey L. Dunoff
Affiliation:
Temple University, Philadelphia
Mark A. Pollack
Affiliation:
Temple University, Philadelphia
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Summary

“Realism” is the theory international lawyers love to hate. Dozens of commentators have attacked realism or written its epitaph. Some commentators have even asked: is anybody still a realist? (Legro and Moravcsik 1999).

Many international law (IL) scholars challenge “realism” because most think it means that international law is epiphenomenal and so devoid of meaning – which could make their jobs irrelevant, wasteful, and quixotic. But they also seem to love realism – or a version of it – because the misunderstood and mischaracterized structural realist straw-man claim that “international law does not matter” serves for them as the perfect foil for arguments that international law is important. It is the null hypothesis that enables international lawyers to show that their argument and life's work does have meaning. So, in a sense, even those who hate “realism” actually love it – in the same way that prohibitionists hated alcohol, Joe McCarthy hated Communism, and family values conservatives hate pornography. What would they do without it?

Type
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Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations
The State of the Art
 , pp. 146 - 172
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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