Professor Joseph Raz – Pic of the Week

This week the Law Library of Congress hosted Professor Joseph Raz who delivered a very thought-provoking lecture for the second Kellogg Biennial Lecture in Jurisprudence.  Professor Raz is a leading proponent of legal positivism, which looks to the sources of laws as the basis for their validity, rather than their content.  During the lecture, he offered his ideas and raised questions about the concepts of sovereignty and legitimacy and how these may be impacted by globalization and the increased legalization of international relations.

We will tell you much more about Professor Raz’s lecture soon.  In the meantime, here’s a quick taste from some of the Law Library’s tweets during the event:

• “Governments are legitimate if there is a moral duty to obey them.”
• “The concept of state sovereignty changes constantly as international relations change.”
• “Balance decreased state sovereignty, increased potential for intervention with legitimacy for international organizations”
• Dr. Raz now explaining theoretical perspective on benefits of legalization.
• “Institutions have to be impartial, effective, consistent.”
• “To flourish, political societies need their members to share a sense of identity around which sentiments coalesce.”
• “Sovereignty will recede as international institutions gain strength, but legitimacy should remain at the level of states.”