Power And Justice In International Relations

Couloumbis/Wolfe balances between a current event (its approach could be called conceptual rather than policy) approach and a theoretical approach. It has a theme of power and justice.

Outstanding and thought-provoking, this book provides up-to-date and in-depth analyses of current developments in international politics. It highlights the (unilateral) use of force in international relations and its implication for international law, the chances and risks of international criminal justice, and the question of epistemic violence with regard to dominant discourses in the theory of international relations, such as nation-building and intercultural dialogue. Furthermore, the book focuses on conditions for global social and ecological justice in international economics against the background of financial crisis. It contributes in particular to a better understanding of the relation between power and justice in view of current global tensions while reflecting the work of the internationally acclaimed philosopher Hans Köchler.

This exciting new text adopts a challenging question-led approach to the major issues facing global society today, in order to investigate the nature and complexity of global change. Among other things it looks at the future of the state, the environment, the international political economy, war and global rivalries, and the role of international law and the UN in the post-Cold War world. The book devises a readily comprehensible "change map", which both incorporates a wide range of the fundamental concepts of international relations theory and suggests a number of new concepts capable of assisting the investigation of global change. This new framework is deployed to look closely at real world issues in order to isolate the crucial factors which determine whether or not mass hunger, for example, or enviromental abuse, can be eliminated.

International human rights have been an important matter for study, policy, and activism since the end of World War II. However, as William H. Meyer observes, global governance is not only a relatively new topic for students of interational relations but also a widely used yet often contested concept. Despite the conflicting and often politicized uses of the term, three key dimensions of global governance can be identified: the impact of diplomatic international organizations such as the International Criminal Court, the importance of nonstate actors and global civil society, and global political trends that can be gleaned from empirical observation and data collection. In Human Rights and Global Governance, Meyer defines global governance generally as the management of global issues within a political space that has no single centralized authority. Employing a combination of historical, quantitative, normative, and policy analyses, Meyer presents a series of case studies at the intersection of power politics and international justice. He examines the global campaign to end impunity for dictators; the recognition, violation, and protection of indigenous rights; the creation and expansion of efforts to ensure corporate social responsibility; the interactions between labor rights and development in the Global South; just war theory as it applies to torturing terrorists, war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the drone wars; and the global strategic environment that best facilitates the making of human rights treaties. Meyer concludes with an evaluation of the successes and failures of two exemplary models for the global governance of human rights as well as recommendations for public policy changes and visions for the future.

When studying international law there is often a risk of focusing entirely on the content of international rules (i.e. regimes), and ignoring why these regimes exist and to what extent the rules affect state behavior. Similarly, international relations studies can focus so much on theories based on the distribution of power among states that it overlooks the existence and relevance of the rules of international law. Both approaches hold their dangers. The overlooking of international relations risk assuming that states actually follow international law, and discounting the specific rules of international law makes it difficult for readers to understand the impact of the rules in more than a superficial manner. This book unifies international law and international relations by exploring how international law and its institutions may be relevant and influence the course of international relations in international trade, protection of the environment, human rights, international criminal justice and the use of force. As a study on the intersection of power and law, this book will be of great interest and use to scholars and students of international law, international relations, political science, international trade, and conflict resolution.