European New Legal Realism and International Law:: How to Make International Law Intelligible

Jakob v. H. Holtermann; Mikael Rask Madsen

doi:10.1017/s0922156515000047

European New Legal Realism and International Law: How to Make International Law Intelligible

Jakob v. H. Holtermann, Mikael Rask Madsen

Centre of Excellence for International Courts and Governance

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

International law remains in many ways a challenge to legal science. As in domestic law, the available options appear to be exhausted by either internal doctrinal approaches, or external approaches applying more general empirical methods from the social sciences. This article claims that, while these major positions obviously provide interesting insights, none of them manage to make international law intelligible in a broader sense. Instead, it argues for a European New Legal Realist approach to international law accommodating the so-called external and internal dimensions of law in a single more complex analysis which takes legal validity seriously but as a genuinely empirical object of study. This article constructs this position by identifying a distinctively European realist path which takes as its primary inspirations Weberian sociology of law and Alf Ross’ Scandinavian Legal Realism and combines them with insights originating from Bourdieusian sociology of law.

Original language	English
Journal	Leiden Journal of International Law
Volume	28
Issue number	2
Pages (from-to)	211-230
Number of pages	20
ISSN	0922-1565
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/s0922156515000047
Publication status	Published - 24 Apr 2015

Access to Document

10.1017/s0922156515000047

Cite this

@article{68d35a49384647b1b4972998082c094f,

title = "European New Legal Realism and International Law:: How to Make International Law Intelligible",

abstract = "International law remains in many ways a challenge to legal science. As in domestic law, the available options appear to be exhausted by either internal doctrinal approaches, or external approaches applying more general empirical methods from the social sciences. This article claims that, while these major positions obviously provide interesting insights, none of them manage to make international law intelligible in a broader sense. Instead, it argues for a European New Legal Realist approach to international law accommodating the so-called external and internal dimensions of law in a single more complex analysis which takes legal validity seriously but as a genuinely empirical object of study. This article constructs this position by identifying a distinctively European realist path which takes as its primary inspirations Weberian sociology of law and Alf Ross{\textquoteright} Scandinavian Legal Realism and combines them with insights originating from Bourdieusian sociology of law.",

author = "Holtermann, {Jakob v. H.} and Madsen, {Mikael Rask}",

year = "2015",

month = apr,

day = "24",

doi = "10.1017/s0922156515000047",

language = "English",

volume = "28",

pages = "211--230",

journal = "Leiden Journal of International Law",

issn = "0922-1565",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - European New Legal Realism and International Law:

T2 - How to Make International Law Intelligible

AU - Holtermann, Jakob v. H.

AU - Madsen, Mikael Rask

PY - 2015/4/24

Y1 - 2015/4/24

N2 - International law remains in many ways a challenge to legal science. As in domestic law, the available options appear to be exhausted by either internal doctrinal approaches, or external approaches applying more general empirical methods from the social sciences. This article claims that, while these major positions obviously provide interesting insights, none of them manage to make international law intelligible in a broader sense. Instead, it argues for a European New Legal Realist approach to international law accommodating the so-called external and internal dimensions of law in a single more complex analysis which takes legal validity seriously but as a genuinely empirical object of study. This article constructs this position by identifying a distinctively European realist path which takes as its primary inspirations Weberian sociology of law and Alf Ross’ Scandinavian Legal Realism and combines them with insights originating from Bourdieusian sociology of law.

AB - International law remains in many ways a challenge to legal science. As in domestic law, the available options appear to be exhausted by either internal doctrinal approaches, or external approaches applying more general empirical methods from the social sciences. This article claims that, while these major positions obviously provide interesting insights, none of them manage to make international law intelligible in a broader sense. Instead, it argues for a European New Legal Realist approach to international law accommodating the so-called external and internal dimensions of law in a single more complex analysis which takes legal validity seriously but as a genuinely empirical object of study. This article constructs this position by identifying a distinctively European realist path which takes as its primary inspirations Weberian sociology of law and Alf Ross’ Scandinavian Legal Realism and combines them with insights originating from Bourdieusian sociology of law.

UR - http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9671735&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0922156515000047

U2 - 10.1017/s0922156515000047

DO - 10.1017/s0922156515000047

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0922-1565

VL - 28

SP - 211

EP - 230

JO - Leiden Journal of International Law

JF - Leiden Journal of International Law

IS - 2

ER -

European New Legal Realism and International Law: How to Make International Law Intelligible

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this