Vol. 21 No. 7 (July, 2011) pp.421-423
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW: A CRITICAL APPROACH, by
Adriana Sinclair.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 210pp.
Hardback $90.00/£55.00. ISBN: 9780521116725. Paper $29.99/£17.99.
ISBN: 9780521133463. eBook. $24.00. ISBN: 9780511911156.
Reviewed by Benjamin O. Arah, Department of History & Government, Bowie State
University. E-Mail: barah [at] bowiestate.edu.
Adriana Sinclair is a specialist in the fields of globalization, international
relations, and international political history at the University of East Anglia.
In writing this important interdisciplinary text, she endeavors to critically
examine and explicate the pivotal role that international law plays in informing
and influencing contemporary international relations and global politics. One of
her goals is to use this book to subtly expose and “challenge our unthinking
assumptions about law.” She demonstrates
the dynamic relationship between international relations theory and
international law, would maintain that international law has become a “pervasive
field,” and her emphasis is on legal methodology and jurisprudence. Sinclair’s
point is clear and coherent, and she puts it succinctly that international law
is inseparable from and central to international relations. The choice of
“critical approach,” as reflected in the sub-title of the book, is
self-explanatory and an indication that the author is evaluative and passionate
in her bold effort to challenge the existing constructivist inadequate
scholarship and theorization about international law with respect to its
pervasive role in shaping contemporary international relations. Thus, the book
is an open invitation to her three audiences (international relations theorists
who work in the area of international law, all international relations
theorists, and lawyers interested in international relations) to develop a
better understanding of this intricate relationship and, by implication, is
necessary in order to rectify and remedy, what she considered to be, the
“serious errors” in conceptualization that lead to “poor theorization of
international law and its place in international politics.” Sinclair would blame
part of the “unthinking assumptions” and misunderstanding of the critical role
of law in politics on the international relations’ constructivist school for the
apparent flaws or errors in both its theoretical foundations and treatment of
law.
In order to set the record straight and, in a way, rehabilitate or develop a
more acceptable understanding of the intricate “cross-over” relationship between
law and politics, Sinclair undertakes a critical and detailed examination of the
contemporary constructivist positions for an exposition of is theoretical
weakness and inadequacy. She succeeds remarkably in this effort, by confronting
and engaging the celebrated ideas and works of Nicholas Onuf and Friedrick
Kratochwil. Both Onuf and Kratochwil are considered as the pioneers of the
international relations school of constructivism, as discussed in Chapter 1.
Sinclair’s assumptions and [*422] perspectives, with respect to her argument
about the increasing role of international law in international politics, make
sense and is persuasive. This book is unique and has provided a new paradigm for
looking at and understanding the relationship between international relations
and international law, as both are inseparable from each other. A good working
knowledge of international law is crucial for understanding international
relations in the post-9/11 global politics.
What she advances, with this paradigm, is that international relations
theorists need to have well-ground understanding of international law in order
to have a deep appreciation of the reciprocal relationship that exists between
international law and international politics, but knowledge of international
politics alone without a corresponding knowledge of international law will
continue to remain inadequate and produce incoherent, inaccurate and untenable
theorization and uncritical assumptions.
In dealing with the dynamic relationship between international law and
international politics, Sinclair seems justified in resorting to the use of
legal methodology (in Chapter 2) and critical jurisprudence (in Chapter 3). The
need for her critical jurisprudence seems deliberate, because she does not want
to limit herself to the realm of natural law theory and legal positivism like
other international relations theorists. Working with critical jurisprudence
allows her to raise several questions that help to guide the direction of the
book, and it shows how law affects everything that is done in any society and,
as such, “determines decisions.” This approach, which is not only appropriate
and unique, allows her to operate with broad knowledge of international law and
the kind of urgent familiarity based on legal reasoning that gives impetus to
some critical questions that undergird the book, calling for deep intellectual
reflection.
Sinclair’s book is divided into two essential parts between the theoretical
(Chapters 1-3) and the empirical (Chapters 4-6). Chapter 1 is centered on “the
theoretical foundations of constructivism and its treatment of law” (pp. 7-36),
based on the school’s flawed assumptions of international law and inadequate
theorization. But, as she notes, “two authors in particular stand out: Onuf and
Kratochwil,” and both “were instrumental in the creation and development of
constructivism as a school of thought” (p.7). Both Onuf and Kratochwil were
responsible for the construction of the theoretical foundation used by the
constructivist school within international relations, but it failed to take
cognizance of the critical role of international law on global politics since
September 11. However, for Sinclair to use the ideas and works (of Onuf and
Kratochwil) as sources for her book is appropriate, because they are relevant
and provide the fertile ground to optimally explore questions about law and
international law in a way that “offers two of the best accounts of
international law in both constructivism and international relations theory more
broadly.” The empirical part
(Chapters 4-6) deals with interesting case studies as follows: the landmark case
of BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA, KANSAS (1954); the 30-year rape
problems and reform legislation in Britain used to dramatize the impact of law
in a given society; and the problem with torture since 9/11 and [*423] the
constructivist failure to fully understand how law operates or works in the
contemporary context.
This book, by Adriana Sinclair, is well written, excellently organized,
thought-provoking, and reflects originality of thought. Her critical approach
serves the intended audience well, because she has an innovative way to theorize
about international relations and politics by drawing upon and incorporating the
crucial aspects of international law and delicately balancing the
presuppositions of one with the other. She uses the case studies, in the second
part of the book, to dramatize the shortcomings and inconsistencies of the
contemporary constructivist international relations understanding of
international law, and correctly insists that a careful understanding of the
role of law (in this case, jurisprudence or legal methodology) is a
sine qua non for having an accurate
or adequate account of their dynamic and intricate inter-relationship.
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© Copyright 2011 by the author, Benjamin O. Arah.