Skip to main content
Palgrave Macmillan

States Undermining International Law

The League of Nations, United Nations, and Failed Utopianism

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

  • Provides an extensive overview of utopianism in international law since the end of World War I
  • Introduces a new concept, emancipatory idealism, into the debate surrounding international law
  • Offers a thorough historical analysis of international law in the 20th and 21st century
  • Investigates the primacy of the State in international law through the lens of legal and political theory

Part of the book series: Philosophy, Public Policy, and Transnational Law (PPPTL)

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

Access this book

eBook USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
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

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (6 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

This book analyses the history of international law to reveal the significant role utopianism has played in developing the international legal system. In fact, when pinpointing the legal system’s most accelerated phases of development, it becomes increasingly apparent how integral utopianism has been in dealing with the international community’s most troubled periods such as the World Wars. However, States have on numerous occasions undermined utopianism, leading to situations where individuals and communities have been vulnerable to modes of oppression such as war or repressive regimes. Thus, by examining the League of Nations and United Nations, this book seeks to show why utopianism continues to be a vital ingredient when the international community is seeking to ensure its loftiest and most ambitious goals such as maintaining international peace and security, and why for the sake of such utopian aspirations, the primary position States enjoy in international law requires reassessment.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, London, UK

    Deepak Mawar

About the author

Deepak Mawar is a Visiting Lecturer at King’s College London, UK, specializing in the fields of international legal history, legal & political theory and global governance.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us