- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
-
1 The Case for Regime Change -
2 Liberal Legacies, Europe’s Totalitarian Era, and the Iraq War -
3 “Regime Change” -
4 In the Murk of It -
5 National Interest and International Law -
6 Just War against an “Outlaw” Region -
7 Moral Arguments -
8 A Friendly Drink in a Time of War -
9 Wielding the Moral Club -
10 Peace, Human Rights, and the Moral Choices of the Churches -
11 Ethical Correctness and the Decline of the Left -
12 Pages from a Daily Journal of Argument -
13 Liberal Realism or Liberal Idealism -
14 Iraq and the European Left -
15 Guilt’s End -
16 The Iraq War and the French Left -
17 Tempting Illusions, Scary Realities, or the Emperor’s New Clothes II -
18 Antitotalitarianism as a Vocation -
19 Sometimes, a War Saves People -
20 Gulf War Syndrome Mark II -
21 “They Don’t Know One Little Thing” -
22 “Why Did It Take You So Long to Get Here?” -
23 Full Statement to the House of Commons, 18 March 2003 -
24 The Threat of Global Terrorism - Contributors
- Index
National Interest and International Law
National Interest and International Law
- Chapter:
- (p.94) (p.95) 5 National Interest and International Law
- Source:
- A Matter of Principle
- Author(s):
Roger Scruton
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
This chapter elaborates the two rival views of international relations that compete for influence among the political elites, the national and the transnational, and the war in Iraq has sharpened the conflict between them. Neither view clearly justifies the war or clearly condemns it. It believes that the national approach is a better guarantee of peace and stability than the transnational alternative, and cases like the Iraq war provide some evidence for this conclusion. According to the national view, the business of politics is to maintain law, order, peace, freedom, and security within the borders of a sovereign state. For the transnational view, belligerence between sovereign states cannot be prevented by the threat of force but only by a rule of law. Disputes between states should be resolved in the same way as disputes between citizens—namely, by recourse to law and the imposition of a judgment.
Keywords: international relations, national view/approach, transnational view, sovereign state, political elites, Iraq war
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
-
1 The Case for Regime Change -
2 Liberal Legacies, Europe’s Totalitarian Era, and the Iraq War -
3 “Regime Change” -
4 In the Murk of It -
5 National Interest and International Law -
6 Just War against an “Outlaw” Region -
7 Moral Arguments -
8 A Friendly Drink in a Time of War -
9 Wielding the Moral Club -
10 Peace, Human Rights, and the Moral Choices of the Churches -
11 Ethical Correctness and the Decline of the Left -
12 Pages from a Daily Journal of Argument -
13 Liberal Realism or Liberal Idealism -
14 Iraq and the European Left -
15 Guilt’s End -
16 The Iraq War and the French Left -
17 Tempting Illusions, Scary Realities, or the Emperor’s New Clothes II -
18 Antitotalitarianism as a Vocation -
19 Sometimes, a War Saves People -
20 Gulf War Syndrome Mark II -
21 “They Don’t Know One Little Thing” -
22 “Why Did It Take You So Long to Get Here?” -
23 Full Statement to the House of Commons, 18 March 2003 -
24 The Threat of Global Terrorism - Contributors
- Index
