The Power of Deliberation

In The Power of Deliberation: International Law, Politics and Organizations, Ian Johnstone challenges the assumption that arguing among states is mere lip service with no real impact on behavior or on the structure of the international system. Johnstone focuses on legal argumentation and asks why, if the rhetoric of law is inconsequential, governments and other international actors bother engaging in it. He considers why argumentation occurs beyond nation states, focusing on deliberation in and around international organizations. Johnstone's central claim is that international organizations are places where "interpretive communities" coalesce, and the quality of the deliberations these communities provoke is a measure of the legitimacy of the organization.