ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the development of an international discourse of jurisprudence paying particular attention to the idea of ius gentium. It seeks to inform the reader as to how these assumptions came to dominate 'the political' and how this account has also informed international politics. The discipline of international relations (IR) and the various ideas of international order are heavily influenced by domestic political thought and the role of legitimate political authority with reference to stable political orders. As the strength of the domestic analogy within IR is revealed, the self-interest and isolated themes evident it the works of the social contract thinkers, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, are shown to have had a detrimental effects on the contemporary engagement of vulnerability and tragedy which has, in turn, challenged the ends of moral institutional design. It concludes with an examination of the works of the tragic realists, both historical and contemporary, and describes the tragic vision of international politics.
