How Is Progress Constructed in International Legal Scholarship?
European Journal of International Law (2014), Vol. 25 No. 2, 425-444
Posted: 17 Feb 2017
There are 2 versions of this paper
How is Progress Constructed in International Legal Scholarship?
Date Written: 2014
Abstract
There is a tendency in international legal discourse to tell the story of international law as a story of progress. ‘Progress’ is a concept which is tied to the process of secularization and Western 18th and 19th century philosophy. It still inspires the debate on international law – despite all setbacks in ‘real history’. This article argues that progress narratives in the international legal discourse are constructed by – more or less subtle – argumentative techniques. It highlights four such techniques – four ‘bundles of arguments’ – which play a key role: ascending periodization, proving increasing value-orientation of international law, detection of positive trends, and paradigm shift-talk. The article offers an explanation of why the progress argument often succeeds in international legal discourse.
Keywords: Progress in International Law, International Legal Theory, Argumentative Techniques in International Law, Social Constructivism
JEL Classification: K33
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