Law in the time that remains – law’s eschatology

Författare

Matilda Arvidsson

Summary, in English

One way of making sense of what is happening in international law today is to read it as a political theology; and as such a continuation of secularized Christian theological institutions. This paper is a reading of jus ad bellum (and just war tradition), jus in bello, and jus post bellum as an eschatology of international law. In order to illustrate my argument I will use the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq in 2003 and onwards. I the paper I argue mainly two things:

(1) International law is, and should consequently correctly be read as, a political theology.

(2) Read as political theology jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum correspond to a Christian eschatology of the messianic time, the 1000 year kingdom, the Judgment Day, and the new kingdom to come. Thus, my argument is that jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum are and should consequently correctly be read as an eschatology of international law.

As I develop my arguments, I will make use of Carl Schmitt's political theology and the Apostle Paul's eschatology which he develops in the letters to the Romans, the Corinthians and the Thessalonians in the New Testament of the Bible.

I scrutinize the concept of time which jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum moves by, and by doing that I identify the political theology – the secularized theological institutions – which operates within the law. What can be learnt from such a reading is both how to understand the law and how to pose a critique against it.

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