On the Possibility of International Community
form of the international community; legislative power,
David C. Ellis
The article conducts a theoretical analysis on the types of
international communities that can be generated in
international politics and the structural factors necessary
or their manifestation.
Dante the world needs global governance in the form of
in the form of a universal political order.
- A central political authority led by an enlightened and
dispassionate Holy Roman Emperor whose power would
be derived from the loyalty of the masses.
- Intellectuals today strive to construct similar system, yet
different from the Holy Roan Empires structure.
- Contemporary Global Governance advocates see the
world being administered by the international community.
International Community
- Varied definitions
- Lexus-nexus search of European, North American, and
South American newspapers turned up with 15,800
stories on the term international community from June 1,
2003 to June 18, 2005
- Elites have regarded the international community as an
ontological certainty.
Is the International Community Relevant?
- Despite coming under scrutiny, academics, world
leaders, and members of the media still have high hopes
for the international community.
- Intl community is expected to address complex political
situations difficult for states to resolve.
Academics
- The idea of the international community has been
discussed even before the 1930s.
Norman Angell (1936) sense of community is
necessary for countries enforce the decisions of
international courts and international law.
- Oystein Heggstad International representation in the
sovereignty, furnished with executive power.
- Morgenthau and Carr demise of the intl community
and the ineffectiveness of contemporary intl institutions
before WWII.
World Leaders and Policy Makers
- Mentioning of the International Community no longer
an exclusively Western practice.
- W. Bush to Mahmoud Abbas
(Palestine), PM Tony Blair, Sec. of State
Condoleezza Rice to Iran and North Korea.
- Pres. Vladimir Putin to UN; Pres. Hu
Jintao to Pres. Abbas, Palestine; Pres. Hosni
Mubarak (Egypt) to Putin.
Incorporating into policy thinking
- UK, Tony Blair. Incorporating intl orgs as force
multipliers for his strategic vision for the United
Kingdom. Resulted in the Doctrine of International
Community: a collaboration of states to confront the
problems of peace, env degradation, and human devt.
- The ambiguity in the phrase of international community
is natural because it has only recently found some agency
and autonomy in the structures of intl orgs.
- Most basic requirement of Intl community unified
society of states adhering to generally the same norms,
rules, identities, and views of moral conduct. Lack of
common conception of how society should be ordered
merely results in a society of states.
Importance of international orgs and implication
of collective international action.
- International community exists through the agentive
structures of international institutions and the
intentionality of the collective will of the states.
The fundamental Characteristics of the International
Community
When is there an International Community?
- States that interact with one another are in a sense bound
by a common set of rules in their relations with one
another, and share in the workings of common
institutions. (Hedley Bull, 1977)
 International society based on common interest - Existence of anarchical international society three
and values is different from a community of morals, rules: 1. States agree upon a fundamental normative
ethics, and common identities indicative of an ordering principle, 2. States create rules of coexistence
international community. that seek to regulate the use of violence, establishing
norms as to its appropriate usage and the behavior states
- Global civil society equating of institutionalization of
may adopt during its use. 3. States develop rules of
international society with the existence of an international
cooperation which deal not with the essential goals of
community.
international society but with the secondary objectives of
Advocates of this are prone to create global states around which consensus has been reached over and
political institutions to govern affairs of man and states. above mere coexistence.
Global concerns can only be overcome with the
Rule make it possible for society of states to exist
abrogation of sovereignty.
under anarchy because states still agree upon basic
- English School in International Relations forefront of ordering principles of their society.
theorizing the nature and values of international society.
- International Society inherently a moral-political
Whether states or individuals should be the order, since rules are based on norms of right and wrong.
primary referent of international society. Advocates of the
Patterns of interaction in intl society creates a
former are Grotian pluralists, the latter, Kantian
culture and ethos of behavior among states which affect
solidarists who also consider a world society that
the expectations and future patterns of interstate relations.
transcends states.
Creation of a community of states depends on interaction
- Pluralists led by Hedley Bull and Robert Jackson density of states.
maintaining and protecting order among states is the best
Frank Schimmelfenning Identifies four ideal-typical
means of securing individuals within their own moral-
societal interaction outcomes between states: GUTYH
political orders; fear that intervening in another state on
MAY CHART SA READINGS SO REFER NALANG
moral terms without the explicit sanction of a legitimizing
DUN
institution would greatly weaken the underlying rules and
norms of the international society. 1. Coexistence No common ethos and low
interaction by states.
- Solidarists led by Andrew Linklater challenge the
pluralists on the grounds that states routinely violate 2. Interdependence - No common ethos and high
human rights, which undermine the moral-political basis interaction between states.
upon which sovereignty is based and demanding a
3. Civilization common ethos but low
response from international society at least in the case of
interaction
extraordinary abuse.
4. Community common ethos and high
- International org with agency (UN) could speak on
interaction between states.
behalf of people, thus satisfying the solidarist position,
while be the primary representative of intl society and Distinction fall between whether or not intl
law as created by states, satisfying the pluralist position. society resembles interdependence or community, to be
determined by the existence of a common ethos-
- Solidarist acknowledge that states still remain as
international interest.
primary vehicle for individual security in the
contemporary era. Robert Jackson International society as societas-
association of independent and legally equal member
- Bull values underpinning modern international
states of varying substance- and international community
society: preservation of the system and the society of
as universitas- a framework of, values, and rules
states, inviolability of sovereignty, and the maintenance
providing foreign policy decision makers.
of peace as the normal condition of the states system.
Community signifies a form of human relations
Order and integrity of international system is
fundamental goals and values are the guiding light of
enforced by the politically active member states among
those involved; unity in pursuit of joint purpose.
whom there should be a sense of common interests in the
elementary goals of life.
Necessary condition for the existence of an international 2. Community of natl citizens minimalist
community grounds for intervention; consti independence would be
deeply rooted among population of a state.
1. Existence of international society.
3. Community of states represented by an
2. Creating a common identity and ethos.*
international organization provides tangible structure
*A political community system or ideology; captures and agency. Does not mean that societas is transformed
identities and loyalties of its members and mobilizes them into universitas.
into ideologically correct action.
Common interests will arise from collective identity,
leads to a sense of belonging to a common interest of
purpose.
International morality must rest on some sort of some
hegemony of power.
International community is inhibited by discontinuity of
morality and the maintenance of exercise of power.

Who or What is the International Community?

International Community the collective moral and
ethical opinions of the states.
Nicholas Murray Butler ic would evolve in
combination with the spread of the international mind**
**Habit of thinking of foreign relations and
business; world living as friendly and cooperating equals
in aiding the progress of civilization. Accompanied by
durable peace.
E.H. Carr against placing fate of natl society in the
hands of intl public opinion.
Ic was both hypothetical and not representative of
reality.
Morgenthau breakdown of moral underpinnings of intl
law extinguishes intl community. Need for a moral-
ethical standard and states to defend them.
Coalitions of the willing intl communities
sharing common morals ethics and interests and are
willing to act and defend them.
Robert Jacksons three meanings for international
community.
1. Community of mankind community of states
subservient to community of mankind; post WWI.
Richard Falk Geogovernance, shifting of
individual identities from primarily statist to globalist
orientations.