Legal Politics

Is law a tool for politics? Having studied the law of the land and the significance of the rule of law in the early 1980s, I furthered my studies in international law and its jurisprudence. As the international legal order is imperfect (eg permissive auto-interpretation without reference to judicial interpretation), one theoretical view is that international law is just power politics in disguise.

Since then, I have been trying to find negativing instances to falsify the theory, hoping to prove the rule of law is at work. Other than being deployed as legal diplomacy particularly in political crisis management, international law has not been able to reduce major tension and to avoid international armed conflicts. Taking a realistic approach, I tend to accept international law reflects interests of States and is subservient to power politics.

Governmental or non-governmental entities making use of coercive or similar means to exert influence on others happens at all levels and in any civil and political contexts. If knowledge is power, legal knowledge derives law-related power (eg in interpreting and applying legal principles, rules and processes) to achieve ends including views regarding a territory's governance. In such a public-to-public context, I find it hard to separate law from politics.

I studied logic and methodology in the 1970s and one fallacy has been resonating in me. It is called "argument from authority" or "appeal to authority" ie using authority as evidence in arguments when the authority might not be the real authority in the relevant factual context. Unless there is consensus among authorities in the field under consideration, it is logically possible that a legitimate authority may honestly testify a falsehood!

#LegalPolitics