Normativity in the

Abstract

One of the great legacies of the New Haven School was its early recognition of the tremendous dynamism and complexity of the international lawmaking process. Its proponents wisely rejected both Austinian positivism and the traditional conception of "law" as a dichotomy of "national" and "international" legal rules. Instead, the policy-oriented jurisprudence of the New Haven School recognized and embraced the interactivity of a multiplicity of decisionmakers in shaping the international legal regime. Moreover, in defining law as an iterative process of authoritative decisionmaking, the New Haven School recognized that authoritative decisions need not necessarily come from official bodies such as courts, tribunals, or legislatures. Instead, its proponents argued, international law should be understood as a policymaking process in which the fundamental values of the international community help to define the content of, and to legitimate, international legal rules.