Abstract
The relationship between IL and IR sometimes divides and unites the practitioners of both fields, because sometimes, IR practitioners seek to legitimise power through the language of IL, and on the other hand, international legal scholars use the language of IR to legitimise authority between states. And in this book, John Morss argues that both fields find themselves at the intersection of power politics (p. 125). However, this book is not only about the relationship between these two fields, but rather about a collectivist’s analysis of IL (p. 102), where at its centre, ‘self-determination is the international law of collectives par excellence (p. 89)’ – an objective that Morss achieves with sophisticated arguments in legal philosophy.
The book seeks a radical departure from the current language of IL to tell the story of the mass movement of people and how IL should take collectives more seriously. The book is a pleasant read that provides a politico-philosophico approach to IL and zooms in on the concept of collectives – a form of mass movement of peoples in IL or ‘people in motion’ – in order to demonstrate that self-determination embodies the very concept of ‘a law of collectives’ (p. 95). The book proposes that self-determination in IL should be ‘radically rethought’ (p. 107) with a new language and grammar. In any event, Morss believes that both IR and IL should combine forces to ‘come to terms with collectives in their dark sides as well as in their bright sides’ (p. 134).
The only notable criticism I can make of the book is a rather ‘positive one’, and that is that Morss at times engages in lengthy discussions of (competing) works to (de)construct his claim(s), and these discussions often feel like extended book reviews. But Morss is a skilful writer, and one can easily deduce that he has the entire corpus of academicians in the social sciences in mind as he writes about and interprets the rather perplexing field of IL that is hard to pin down. Nevertheless, International Law as the Law of Collectives does not actually address the core problem faced by the contemporary movement of peoples in their quest for recognised identity. Instead, the book serves to highlight further twists in the puzzle and the struggle between power politics and IL as peoples in places such as frozen conflict zones or the Palestine problem continue their quest for nationhood/statehood within IL.