Kammerhofer: Hans Kelsen’s Place in International Legal Theory

Jörg Kammerhofer (Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg - Law) has posted Hans Kelsen’s Place in International Legal Theory (in Research Handbook in International Legal Theory, Alexander Orakhelashvili ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This paper seeks to apply the Pure Theory of Law to some of the current problems of international law and thus to endow that theory with a new usefulness that Kelsen is not usually accorded by current international legal scholarship. Another goal of this paper is to get away from a gut-reaction against Kelsen and to avoid the stigma that is associated with his name in legal theory. This can be achieved by re-engaging with the Pure Theory without placing undue emphasis on polemic defence or attack and by thoroughly ‘modernising’ the topics discussed.The Pure Theory of Law will be applied a-contextually and a-historically to problems of practice.The focus will lie in how the Pure Theory of Law - as theoretical approach connected with, but not restricted to, Hans Kelsen’s writings - can be used for some of today’s theoretical challenges.