Abstract

In “A New Philosophy for International Law,” Dworkin defends an account of the basic moral standards by which the international system is to be evaluated. Two elements of this account are the focus of this chapter. The first element is the rejection of the doctrine of state consent as the basis of international law. The second is Dworkin’s commitment to a kind of non-cosmopolitan associativism. Here, I argue that Dworkin’s basic principles of international law do not support his non-cosmopolitan idea that the enhancement of state legitimacy is the true moral basis of international law. Moreover, I argue that a more satisfactory picture of the international system emerges once we accept the idea that there is an international political community and that state consent has an important role to play in the shaping of that international political community.