Le contractualisme international: Défis, portée et limities d'un cadre théorique
Abstract (summary)
The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate on which bases the international contractualism has to be thought. In the beginning, I examine the classical contractualism through John Locke and Thomas Hobbes theories on one side and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the other side. The first ones define the "realistic" line of thought while the second one defines the "idealistic" view of international relations. I closely examine their texts and their interpretations, as well as their reconstructions, which allows us to construct analytic tools relevant for a contemporary thought.
I focus my attention, in the second part of my work, on the theories of John Rawls and David Gauthier, two emblematic figures of this traditional thought, today renewed, with the influence of the paradigm of the game and the rational choices theories. I expose their respective approaches. After extracting the function, the structure and the social contract clauses in each of these two authors' work I underline diverging and converging points that permit me to establish the possibility of a complementarity in the general thinking on the international level. Finally, in a methods comparison, I see one dimension of the contractualist reasoning arise that has been until then overshadowed at the level of principles: the historical dimension. By this, I mean the necessity to consider a specific context within which events take place and acquire a special empirical thickness. The cosmopolitan perspective of Charles Beitz, which takes up the justice theory of Rawls and directly transposes it to the international frame in a global perspective, retains my interest. The debate engaged through this perspective brings me to closely examine the "basic structure" concept which is the central element of Rawls' theory: it is in fact the object of the theory of justice. The definition of perspectives on the international level depends on the definition of this concept. The concluding chapter offers some normative guidelines. After establishing that the interests of states and individuals are ill-served in an international situation devoid of a contract, I explain the need for this contract to focus on the environmental conditions.
Indexing (details)
Political science
0615: Political science