The Contribution of International Law to Peace Research

Abstract

Successful interdisciplinary cooperation in the area of peace research requires the reduction of prejudices and the joint recognition and analysis of the specific problems of each of the disciplines involved. An attempt has been made here to touch on some of the most important problems of inter national law and the study of international law. The scope of these problems reaches, as far as international law as such is concerned, from the question of its basis, which is more and more dif ficult to answer, to the many and varied concep tions of an ideal, desirable world order. In the science of international law, the range is from an antitheoretical pragmatism to the real and con ceptual difficulties in developing rules and pro cedures for peaceful change. Only when these and other difficulties are recognized, and when it is accepted that the study of international law is and must remain a normative science, and that the maintenance of the 'negative' peace is a valid objective, even an indispensable requirement for all further endeavors to improve the condition of international rela tions, will fruitful cooperation with other disciplines be possible in the area of future peace research.