Hersch Lauterpacht,the Realist Challenge and the ‘Grotian Tradition’ in 20th-Century International Relations

Abstract

This article argues that although he is ordinarily relegated to the realm of international legal scholarship, Hersch Lauterpacht made a significant contribution to the development of International Relations theory. In particular, it demonstrates that in attempting to address the range of debates surrounding the relationship between law and morality in the interwar and postwar eras, Lauterpacht not only engaged directly with E.H. Carr’s criticisms of ‘utopian’ thought but was responsible for providing the most comprehensive expression of the ‘Grotian tradition’ to date, a tradition that later appeared in the works of Martin Wight and subsequent scholars. In doing so, this article seeks to achieve not only Lauterpacht’s reincorporation into the history of International Relations scholarship but brings into question the disciplinary demarcations that divide the so-called ‘disciplines’ of International Relations and International Law.