"The chaotic and bloody world around us is the rule of law"

In his “Critique of Violence” Benajamin declares that “Lawmaking is power making, and , to that extent, an immediate manifestation of violence. Justice is the principle of all divine end making, power the principle of all mythical lawmaking” (295). Similarly, in his conclusion of Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law, Mieville states:

 “There is also a more profound sense in which radical change, or even the systematic amelioration of social and international problems, cannot come through law. As Pashukanis’s form-analysis shows, the system that throws these problems up is the juridical system that underpins the law. Law is a relation between subjects abstracted of social context, facing each other in a relationship predicated on private property, dependent on coercion. Internationally, law’s ‘violence of abstraction’ is the violence of war. To fundamentally change the dynamics of the system it would be necessary not to reform the institutions but to eradicate the forms of law– which means the fundamental reformulation of the political-economic system of which they are expressions. The project to achieve this is the best hope for global emancipation, and it would mean the end of law” (318).

“The attempt to replace war and inequality with law is not merely utopian– it is precisely self-defeating. A world structured around international law cannot but be one of imperialist violence. The chaotic and bloody world around us is the rule of law” (319).

Both works struck me as extremely pessimistic in terms of their conception of lawmaking, and international law, and made me feel hopelessly lost in a dead end. Similar to what Stephanie mentioned in her post, I wonder what alternatives are available after this recognition. Is international law, or law itself worth reforming, if possible? Are there any benefits to international law, or even to human rights? At this point, it just seems as though any enforcement of domestic or international law will always benefit the state in power...I don't know where to go from here, hope we can discuss this further in class.