Locke on the Moral Basis of International Relations

@article{citeulike:668852, abstract = {This article aims to focus analysis of Locke's theory of international relations away from the familiar discourse of sovereignty and natural law and toward a different discourse involving self-government and international society. It argues that Locke's conception of international society balanced interrelated, overlapping, and even competing claims about sovereignty and natural law in a normative framework in which the right of self-government replaced the principle of sovereignty as the moral basis of international relations. Thus, for Locke the norms deduced from the law of nature govern the international state of nature even as independent societies remain the primary executors of the law of nature in international society. The article concludes by considering how Locke's reflections on international relations may contribute to our understanding of contemporary debates about sovereignty, the use of force, and the ethics of intervention.}, author = {Ward and Lee}, citeulike-article-id = {668852}, doi = {10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00210.x}, issn = {0092-5853}, journal = {American Journal of Political Science}, keywords = {international, locke, relations}, month = {July}, number = {3}, pages = {691--705}, posted-at = {2006-12-02 09:26:04}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing}, title = {Locke on the Moral Basis of International Relations}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00210.x}, volume = {50}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:668852 L3 - citeulike-article-id:668852 TI - Locke on the Moral Basis of International Relations JF - American Journal of Political Science VL - 50 IS - 3 SP - 691 EP - 705 PB - Blackwell Publishing SN - 0092-5853 N2 - This article aims to focus analysis of Locke's theory of international relations away from the familiar discourse of sovereignty and natural law and toward a different discourse involving self-government and international society. It argues that Locke's conception of international society balanced interrelated, overlapping, and even competing claims about sovereignty and natural law in a normative framework in which the right of self-government replaced the principle of sovereignty as the moral basis of international relations. Thus, for Locke the norms deduced from the law of nature govern the international state of nature even as independent societies remain the primary executors of the law of nature in international society. The article concludes by considering how Locke's reflections on international relations may contribute to our understanding of contemporary debates about sovereignty, the use of force, and the ethics of intervention. KW - international KW - locke KW - relations AU - Ward AU - Lee PY - 2006/07// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00210.x ER -