History of the law of nations

“All is fair in love and war,” or so the adage goes, but it is an adage quoted too much but contemplated too little. War is one of the few things where whether the ends justify the means is never absolutely settled. This is because the means are often things and actions that, beyond the context of war, would be rendered immoral almost automatically. We remember at once Sherman’s famed quote—“war is hell”—where he pointed at the reality of war as a time of absolute moral anarchy, where right or wrong is not determined by arbitrary values, but by necessity and expedience (Hobbes, 2011). It is, according to the realist discourse, a time where “the law is silent” (Walzer, 1977, p. 3).

But the silence of the law could very well mean its absence: war is an affair between two states, and perhaps the amorality of war only means its lack of moderation or supervision. This paper will discuss international law, mainly through Walzer’s perspective, and describe the functions, the requirements and the contexts of effective international laws, in light of moral-philosophical discourse. The paper, for the most part, will be a critique of realist international laws as they are theorized, mainly, under the Hobbesian framework, where moral valuations are assessed without regard for cultural context and deliberation; moral value is nothing more than the material interest of nations. In light of this, the paper will (1) argue for the necessity of moral dialogue by confirming Walzer’s critique of the Leviathan’s utilitarianism in the international arena, and (2) emphasize the necessity of culture and context in the development of international law, mainly through Morgenthau’s post-positivist legal criticism. Walzer launches his own tirade against the...

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