The Rule of Law in the Real World Review

abril 17, 2022 Enviar um comentário

Christopher May's latestbook explores the complexities of the rule of law – a well-used but perhaps less well understood term – to explain why it is then often appealed to in discussions of global politics.Ignas Kalpokas finds that this is a timely and insightful disruption of the monotony of the rule of law discourse for the style it calls into question our supposedly commonsensical assumptions and cocky-axiomatic practices. It is clearly a significant accomplishment and undoubtedly recommended.

The Rule of Constabulary: The Mutual Sense of Global Politics. Christopher May. Edward Elgar. 2014.

Observe this volume:

The rule of law is a term we often use without even properly thinking about its pregnant. It has truly become a commonsensical term, function of the everyday social imaginary, as Christopher May himself argues. Information technology has come up to connote all the perceived benefits of the increasing legalisation of our lives: universality, predictability, stability, non-arbitrariness, inclusivity, freedom and so forth. Against this background, Christopher May's new volume is a welcome and timely endeavour to problematise the term.

The book itself is structured around several core axes: a survey of the current usage of the term 'rule of law' in domestic and international contexts; an exploration of the reasons for the prevalence of the rule of constabulary arroyo; an analysis of the bodily workings (and shortcomings) of the rule of police force approach, especially in the contexts of economical aid and postal service-conflict reconstruction; and, finally, the development of a new, pluralist, account of the rule of constabulary. Therefore, the book is valuable as both a critical-analytical tool and every bit a source of conceptual innovation. It is also worth mentioning that both ends are accomplished in an attainable mode, to be appreciated by not-experts in law or political economy, but without prejudicing the rigour and depth of enquiry and statement.

The beginning part of the book is dedicated to understanding the current usage of the term 'rule of police force' and its significance in current legal, political, and economical discourse. Rule of law here is treated every bit a social imaginary, a concept borrowed from Charles Taylor (which is worth noting because at that place have been many other renderings of social imaginary). To put information technology in simpler terms, rule of police has become role of the cloth of our perceptions of everyday world, a necessary element of the interpretive systems used to explain and order the (social) earth, shared in a (more than or less) intersubjective style. That accounts for the commonsensical acceptability of the rule of law as well equally for the lack of questioning – rule of law is only something that cocky evidently is and it is as it is. And yet, one conceptual (and perhaps ideological too) disagreement persists: one between 'thin' (i.eastward. minimal, more often than not procedural), and 'thick' (i.e. having regard for particular social-normative content as well equally procedure) concepts of the rule of law. As a effect, the author dwells on this distinction for some fourth dimension, analysing their preconditions and the competing worldviews offered. Although rather expository in nature and at times resembling a compendium more than an analysis, this section is nevertheless a proficient preparatory ground for the future development of the argument.

In terms of the actual workings of the rule of law, the initial question is the following: how has it become office (and perhaps the dominant one) of the global imaginary? For that, the author traces a genealogy of how a rather narrow, mainly Anglo-American-educated legal elite came to dominate governmental and not-governmental organisations and agencies worldwide, bringing with them their own common-sense norms, amidst which the rule of law played a significant role. To a significant extent Christopher May's genealogy of the international community of rule of police force adherents parallels Benedict Anderson's genealogy of the nation in Imagined Communities. And given the presence of such community, it comes as no surprise that the dominion of law approach came to dominate economic help and post-conflict reconstruction programmes, oft spearheaded and implemented past lawyers. A result has been an increasingly prevalent one-size-fits-all approach to development and reconstruction, disregarding local specificities besides equally local legal and social cultures. Many of the recent failures of evolution and reconstruction can be explicated through this lens. The same applies to the attempts at integration of the global system(s) of international law, manifested primarily past the then-called global constitutionalism approach. Every bit a result, the author'southward take on the dominion of law offers a powerful critique of the hegemonic modes of thinking and of increased legalisation of the otherwise political processes.

To be sure, this book is not a critique of the rule of law as such – only of the current dominant utilise of it. The author moves to accost the flaws inherent in the current hegemonic rule of law by opposing to it a pluralist account of what rule of law could and should be: integrating unlike experiences, needs, and approaches (providing interesting discussions of general legal pluralism and civil disobedience on the fashion). Of class, that might be a weaker rule of constabulary, concentrating on a more generalised set of similarities only but that is necessary to bring back the subject field and his/her activity. This is the 2d major contribution of the book: a well-thought and argued alternative to the dominant style of thinking. Keeping in listen the tendency in the majority of like studies to concentrate on either ane of the ii aspects – either alternative or critique – without due regard for the other, the synthesis of both is a noteworthy achievement of the present volume.

In brusk, Christopher May's The Rule of Police force is clearly a must for all those interested in legal problems, international political economy, economic development, post-conflict restructuring or, more generally, the role of norms in today's globalised world. A timely and insightful disruption of the monotony of the rule of law discourse, this volume definitely calls into question our supposedly commonsensical assumptions and self-evident practices. It is, therefore, clearly a significant achievement and undoubtedly recommended.

Ignas Kalpokas is a PhD student in Politics at the University of Nottingham, working on a dissertation on Baruch Spinoza, Jacques Lacan, and Carl Schmitt. He holds his Masters degree in Social and Political Disquisitional Theory and Bachelors caste in Politics from Vytautas Magnus University (Republic of lithuania). He has besides worked on various educational projects and initiatives. Ignas' inquiry interests prevarication in the investigation of interrelated concepts of sovereignty, the land, and the political equally well as the formation and maintenance of (national) identities. In addition, his research also involves history, literature, and international relations theory. His preferred theoretical framework is more often than not Continental philosophy.Read more reviews past Ignas.