Introduction: The Future of International Legal Positivism

Abstract

This paper is the introductory chapter of an edited volume, entitled 'International Legal Positivism in a Post-Modern World', to be published by Cambridge University Press in early 2014.

The core idea of the project is that positivism as family of theoretical approaches to international law has radically transformed itself in the twenty-first century, not least because of the critique levelled at ‘classical’ forms of international legal positivism. The volume introduced here seeks to carry out an in-depth scholarly study of where the positivist approach to international legal scholarship stands at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century and whether it can be sustainable. This means taking a hard look at whether positivism remains a cogent approach for the future of international legal scholarship, and, if so, what forms it is, can be, or ought to be taking.

New, Completely Revised Version

Keywords: International Legal Positivism, International Law, HLA Hart, Hans Kelsen, Positivism, Legal Theory, Jurisprudence, Formalism, Legal Realism, Constitutionalism, Deconstruction, Critical Legal Studies, Natural Law, Use of Force, Investment Law, Sources of International Law, Interpretation, Statehood