International ethics and international law
- 1 January 1992
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Review of International Studies
- Vol. 18 (1) , 19-30
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210500118728
Abstract
In this paper I am going to argue a familiar but still controversial thesis about the relation between international ethics and international law, which I would sum up in the following list of propositions:First, international law is a source as well as an object of ethical judgements. The idea of legality or the rule of law is an ethical one, and international law has ethical significance because it gives institutional expression to the rule of law in international relations.Secondly, international law—or, more precisely, the idea of the rule of law in international relations—reflects a rule-oriented rather than outcome-oriented ethic of international affairs. By insisting on the priority of rules over outcomes, this ethic rejects consequentialism in all its forms.Keywords
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