Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Realism, Universalism, and Evolving Morality

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Michael Oakeshott's Political Philosophy of International Relations

Part of the book series: International Political Theory ((IPoT))

  • 280 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter considers the idea of an international civil association, constituted by a set of non-instrumental rules, in the light of realist, universalist, and constitutive theories of International Relations. It highlights the similarities between Oakeshott and realism by exploring Oakeshott’s arguments against theories of universal moral order, as well as his defence of a phronetic conception of political activity. However, on the basis of textual evidence from Oakeshott’s essay “The Rule of Law,” the chapter ultimately argues that, in Oakeshott’s theory, law reflects evolving moral practices, and that this illuminates the source of international legal obligation. As such, the chapter contributes to debates in constructivist literature on the source of international authority and on the relation between moral values and international law.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Beitz, C.R. 1999. Political Theory and International Relations. With a New Foreword by the Author. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Botwinick, A. 2010. Michael Oakeshott’s Skepticism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boucher, D. 1998. Political Theories of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2005a. Oakeshott, Freedom and Republicanism. British Journal of Politics and International Relations VIII: 81–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2005b. The Rule in the Modern European State. Oakeshott and the Enlargement of Europe. European Journal of Political Theory 4(1): 89–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2006. Uniting What Right Permits With What Interest Prescribes: Rawls’s Law of People in Context. In Rawls’s Law of Peoples: A Realistic Utopia? eds. R. Martin and D.A. Reidy, 19–37. Malden, MA: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2007. Oakeshott and the History of Political Thought. Collingwood and British Idealism Studies XIII(2): 69–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2009. The Limits of Ethics in International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Boucher, D., and A. Vincent. 2012. British Idealism. A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, C. 1992. International Relations. New Normative Approaches. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, C. 1994. The Ethics of Political Restructuring in Europe. The Perspective of Constitutive Theory. In Political Restructuring in Europe. Ethical Perspectives, ed. C. Brown, 163–185. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2012. The “Practice Turn,” Phronesis and Classical Realism: Towards a Phronetic International Political Theory? Millennium—Journal of International Studies 40: 439–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bull, H. 1979. The State’s Positive Role in World Affairs. Daedalus 108: 111–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callahan, G. 2012. Oakeshott on Rome and America. Exeter: Imprint Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cicero. 1991. On Duties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Croce, B. 1948. The Future of Liberalism. In Human Rights. Comments and Interpretations, ed. UNESCO, 81–84. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egede, E., and P. Sutch. 2013. The Politics of International Law and International Justice. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. 2003. Society Must Be Defended. Lectures at the Collège de France. New York: Picador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, R.B. 1989. Oakeshott and the Authority of Law. Ratio Juris 2(1): 27–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frost, M. 1996. Ethics in International Relations. A Constitutive Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Frost, M. 2002. Constituting Human Rights: Global Civil Society and the Society of Democratic States. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Guess, R. 2008. Philosophy and Real Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kedourie, E. 1993. Nationalism, 4th edn. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague II). 1899, July 29. Available at: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/hague02.asp. Accessed 09 Aug 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lebow, R.N. 2003. The Tragic Vision of Politics: Ethics, Interests, and Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Letwin, S.R. 1989. Morality and Law. Ratio Juris 2(1): 55–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meierhenrich, J. 2014. The Practice of International Law: A Theoretical Analysis. Law and Contemporary Problems 76: 1–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meron, T. 2000. The Martens Clause, Principles of Humanity and Dictates of Public Conscience. American Journal of International Law 94(1): 78–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. 1997. On Nationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. 2016. How “Realistic” Should Global Political Theory Be? Some Reflections on the Debate so Far. Journal of International Political Theory 12(2): 217–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molloy, S. 2008. H. Carr versus Hans J. Morgenthau: Conflicting Conceptions of Ethics in International Relations. In Political Thought and International Relations: Variations on a Realist Theme, ed. D. Bell, 83–104. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgenthau, H.J. 1940. Positivism, Functionalism, and International Law. American Journal of International Law 34(2): 260–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgenthau, H.J. 1946. Scientific Man Versus Power Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nardin, T. 2008. Theorising the International Rule of Law. Review of International Studies 34(3): 385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakeshott, M. 1950. The Social and Political Doctrines of Contemporary Europe, American edn. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1975. On Human Conduct. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1991. In Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays. Ed. T. Fuller. 2nd edn. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1993a. Religion, Politics, and the Moral Life. Ed. T. Fuller. New Haven-London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1993b. Morality and Politics in Modern Europe. Ed. S.R. Letwin. New Haven-London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1996. The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism. Ed. T. Fuller. New Haven-London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1999. On History and Other Essays. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2010. Early Political Writings. Ed. L. O’Sullivan. Exeter: Imprint Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2014. Notebooks. Ed. L. O’Sullivan. Exeter: Imprint Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— n.d. Untitled. Loose Notes. LSE/OAKESHOTT/3/17. British Library of Political and Economic Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan, L. 2010. Introduction. In Oakeshott, M. Early Political Writings, ed. L. O’Sullivan, 1–35. Exeter: Imprint Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2012. World of Experience: History. In The Cambridge Companion to Oakeshott, ed. E. Podoksik, 42–63. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan, N. 2012. Oakeshott on Civil Association. In A Companion to Oakeshott, eds. P. Franco and L. Marsh, 290–231. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pogge, T. 1989. Realizing Rawls. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2007. Freedom from Poverty as Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rengger, N. 2005. Tragedy or Scepticism? Defending the Anti-Pelagian Mind in World Politics. International Relations 19(3): 321–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reus-Smit, C. 1999. The Moral Purpose of the State. Culture, Social Identity, and Institutional Rationality in International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2003a. Constructivism. In Theories of International Relations, 3rd edn, eds. S. Burchill and A. Liklater, 188–211. New York: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2003b. Politics and International Legal Obligation. European Journal of International Relations 9(4): 591–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ——— 2013. Individual Rights and the Making of International Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T.R. 1996. Social Practices: A Wittgensteinian Approach to Human Activity and the Social. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, C. 2008a. The Concept of the Political. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, C. 2008b. The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes. Meaning and Failure of a Political Symbol. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutch, P. 2012. Normative IR Theory and the Legalization of International Politics: The Dictates of Humanity and of the Public Conscience as a Vehicle for Global Justice. Journal of International Political Theory 8(1–2): 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, M. 2012. Michael Oakeshott on the History of Political Thought. In A Companion to Oakeshott, eds. P. Franco and L. Marsh, 197–216. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tseng, R. 2003. The Sceptical Idealist: Michael Oakeshott as a Critic of the Enlightenment. Exeter: Imprint Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tseng, R. 2013. Scepticism in Politics: A Dialogue between Michael Oakeshott and John Dunn. History of Political Thought XXXIV(1): 143–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, S.P 2014. Oakeshott on the Rule of Law: A Defense. Cosmos and Taxis 1(3): 72–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, C. 2005. Idealist Political Philosophy. Pluralism and Conflict in the Absolute Idealist Tradition. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valentini, L. 2011. Justice in a Globalized World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Waltz, K. 1979. Theory of International Politics. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walzer, M. 1983. Spheres of Justice. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, N.J., and T. Dunne. 1996. Hedley Bull’s Pluralism of the Intellect and Solidarism of the Will. International Affairs 72(1): 91–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wight, M. 1966. Why There is No International Theory. In Diplomatic Investigations, eds. H. Butterfield and M. Wight, 17–34. London: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liceo Linguistico Internazionale, Baranzate, Italy

    Davide Orsi

Authors
  1. Davide Orsi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Orsi, D. (2016). Realism, Universalism, and Evolving Morality. In: Michael Oakeshott's Political Philosophy of International Relations. International Political Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38785-7_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation