Kammerhofer: Non-State Actors from the Perspective of the Pure Theory of Law

Jörg Kammerhofer (Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg - Law) has posted Non-State Actors from the Perspective of the Pure Theory of Law. Here's the abstract:

This paper looks at the concept of legal personality from the Pure Theory of Law's theoretical vantage point. This theory will be applied to the debate on non-state actors in international law. In the following, we will proceed in three steps: first, we will present how the Pure Theory constructs legal personality on a purely legal-normativistic basis; second, the general jurisprudential construct will be applied to international law; third, we will re-state the Pure Theory’s case with respect to non-state actors. Kelsen’s construction of the concept of legal personality, particular in international law and the attendant removal of non-legal or pre-legal elements that adhere to many doctrines - such as the traditional notion of sovereignty as absolute pre-legal power of the state - and their reduction to the legal core (sovereignty as a function granted to states by international law) has the salutary effect to show the positive law in force and unmask myths that needlessly complicate international legal doctrine.