Rules, Norms, and Decisions: On the Conditions of Practical and Legal Reasoning in International Relations and Domestic Affairs

327 Pages·1989·4.95 MB·English

by  Friedrich V. Kratochwil

Rules, norms, and decisions
CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: 2
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SMITH(Managingeditor)
STEVE
KAL HOLST!,R OBERT S.L ITWA K, MICHAEL NICHOLSON
WILLIAM OLSON, ADAM ROBERTS, JOHN SIMPSON,
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Cambridge Studies in International Relations is a joint initiative of
Cambridge University Press and the British International Studies
Association (BISA). The series will include a wide range of material,
from undergraduate textbooks and surveys to research-based
monographs and collaborative volumes. The aim of the series is to
publish the best new scholarship in International Studies from Europe,
North America and the rest of the world.
Cambridge Studies in International Relations
1
MYLES L.C . ROBERTSON
Soviet policy towards Japan
An analysis of trends in the 1970s and 1980s
2
FRIEDRICH V. KRATOCHWIL
Rules, norms and decisions
On the conditions of practical and legal reasoning in international
relations and domestic affairs
3
MICHAEL NICHOLSON
Formal theories in international relations
4
MICHAEL C. PUGH
The ANZUS crisis, nuclear visiting and deterrence
5
STEPHEN GILL
American hegemony and the Trilateral Commission
6
HIDEMI SUGANAMI
The domestic analogy and world order proposals
7
IAN CLARK
The hierarchy of states
Reform and resistance in the international order
8
ZEEV MAOZ
National choices and international processes
9
WILLIAM BLOOM
Personal identity, national identity and international relations
10
JAMES MAY ALL
Nationalism and international society
11 JAMES BARBER and JOHN BARRATT
South Africa's foreign policy
The search for status and security 1945-1988
12
ROBERT H. JACKSON
Quasi-states: sovereignty, international relations and the Third
World
13
SAKI DOCKRILL
Britain's policy for West German rearmament 1950-1955
14
KALEVI J.H OLST!
Peace and war: armed conflicts and the international order
1648-1989
15
DEON GELDENHUYS
Isolated states: a comparative analysis
16
CHARLES F. DORAN
Systems in crisis
New imperatives of high politics at century's end
RULES, NORMS,
AND DECISIONS
On the conditions of practical
and legal reasoning
in international refations and
domestic affairs
FRIEDRICH V. KRATOCHWIL
University of Pennsylvania·
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Great gain for Athens shall arise
From these grim forms and threatening eyes.
Then worship them with friendly heart,
For theirs is friendly. Let your State
Hold justice as her chiefest prize;
And land and city shall be great
And glorious in every part.
Aeschylus, Eumenides 990-995
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction The resort to norms 1
1 Rules, norms, and actions: laying the conceptual
21
foundations
2 Anarchy and the state of nature: the issue of regimes in
international relations 45
3 The emergence and types of norms 69
4 The force of prescriptions: Hume, Hobbes, Durkheim,
and Freud on compliance with norms 95
5 The discourse on grievances: Pufendorf and the "laws
of nature" as constitutive principles for the discursive
130
settlement of disputes
6 The notion of "right" 155
7 The question of "law" 181
8 The path of legal arguments 212
Conclusion The international legal order, interna­
tional systems, and the comparative analysis of the
practice of states 249
Notes 263
Index 313

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was furthered by a grant from the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation which made it possible for me to spend a year as
a guest at the Geschwister Scholl Institut of the University of Munich.
My sincerest thanks to the foundation and to Prof. Nikolaus von
Lobkowicz, who was my academic host in Germany. I am also grateful
to Columbia University, whose faculty development leave enabled me
to finish the typescript.
Beyond the most immediate support I am indebted to many other
people who helped me over the years. Although my days of a graduate
student at Princeton have long passed many of the ideas in this book
are the result of the influence my two mentors Richard Falk and Robert
Gilpin had on my thinking during these formative years. Ralf and
Angela Bruckner gave much-needed encouragement at crucial mo­
ments. Simone Chambers proved to be an invaluable critic. My
research assistants Kathrine Sikkink and Larry Reina contributed by
tackling their assignments with imagination and diligence. Michael
Barkun, Terry Nardin, Nicholas Onuf, and John Ruggie carefully read
previous versions of this book and offered many helpful suggestions.
Thomas Franck, both an eminent lawyer and social scientist, saved
me from many errors by sharing his thoughts with me.
In addition, I profited greatly from the discussions with Nicole
Fermon, Harvey Goldman, Helen Millner, Deborah Larson, and Jack
Snyder, who were exemplary colleagues and friends at the seventh­
floor "Bantustan" of Columbia's International Affairs Building. I also
owe a debt of gratitude to Karen Boiko, who was kind enough to help
with the proof-reading, and to Anita Mercier, Jennifer Thorn, and the
staff of the War and Peace Institute of Columbia, who took care of the
word-processing chores of seemingly interminable drafts.
Finally, since several of the sections of this book have appeared in
slightly different versions, I gratefully acknowledge the help I received
from various editors of journals, including Peter Katzenstein of
International Organization, Gerhard Sprenger of the Archiv fur Rechts-
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
und Sozialphilosophie, Kenneth Oye of World Politics, and many other
reviewers who have helped me to re-think and reformulate my ideas.
Errors of fact and judgment are, as always, exclusively mine.
Reprint permission has been granted for the following articles,
which appear in (slightly) different form as chapters or sections of this
book:
"On the Notion of 'Interest' in International Relations," International
Organization, vol. 36, no. 1 (1982), 1-30.
"Is International Law 'proper' Law?", Archiv fur Rechts-und Sozialphilo­
sophie, vol. 69, Heft 1 (1983), 13-46.
"Thrasymachos Revisited: On the Relevance of Norms and the Study
of Law for International Relations," Journal of International Affairs, vol.
37, no. 2 (1984), 343-356.
"Errors have their Advantage," International Organization, vol. 38, no. 2
(1984), 305-320.
"The Force of Prescriptions," International Organization, vol. 38, no. 4
(1984), 685-708.
"The Role of Domestic Courts as Agencies of the International Legal
Order," in Richard Falk, Friedrich Kratochwil, and Saul Mendlovitz
(eds.), International Law, A Contemporary Perspective (Boulder, Colo.:
Westview Press, 1985), cht. 13.
"International Organization: A State of the Art on an Art of the State"
(together with John Ruggie), International Organization, vol. 40, no. 4
(1986), 753-775.
"Of Systems, Boundaries and Territoriality," World Politics, vol. 34, no.
1 (1986), 27-52, by permission of Princeton University Press.
"Rules, Norms, and the Limits of 'Rationality,'" Archiv fur Rechts-und
Sozialphilosophie, vol. 73, Heft 3 (1987), 301-329.
"Norms and Values: Rethinking the Domestic Analogy."' Ethics and
International Affairs, vol. 1 (1987), 135-160.
"Diritto e Principi di Natura: Pufendorf e le leggi di natura come
condizioni transcendentali di un discorso sulle controversie," Teoria
Politica, vol. 4, no. 1 (1988), 3-27.
"Regimes, Interpretation and the 'Science' of Politics," Millennium,
vol. 17, no. 2 (1988), 263-284.
x