The Place of International Law in Peace Research

The article first describes the belief, common among lawyers, that they hold the key to all problems in relation to prevention of war. The author compares this belief, and in particular the 'outlawry-of-war'-movement in the first quarter of this century, with the subsequent disillusions which led to the attitude that international law has not much to contribute to serious peace research. He rejects the suggestion that international law is still a 'primitive' kind of law that will gradually evolve into a mature and therefore more effective law. The suggestion that international law must first absorb and eventually reflect the cultural backgrounds and patterns of the peoples of the world and their legal systems, is critically appraised. The thesis that the desires and demands of the dissatisfied nations are not allowed for in the prevalent legal conceptions of traditional international law, is seen in the perspective of the tension normal in any legal order, caused by defective adjustments to ideal demands. The possible beginnings of an international 'criminal' law and its further development, as well as the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, are discussed in relation to the socio- criminological problems of 'lawlessness' and 'differential association', a recurrent central problem of international law, or rather of the international situation. The article asserts that the experience and the theoretical categories of municipal law are inapplicable to the international constellation. It therefore stipulates that functional and theoretical adaptations to fundamental differences between municipal and international situations be brought into play.