The View of the English School of International Relations on International Law Emerson Maione de Souza Professional researcher of the Research Group in International Politics (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ). Email: emerson.maione@ufrj.br Paper prepared for the Panel on ‘The English School and Methodology II: Debating past and future paradigms’. International Studies Association (ISA), New York, USA. 15-18 February 2009. Abstract This article aims to analyze the view of International Law held by the English School. Firstly, the main arguments of the English School will be analyzed, focusing on the general importance of International Law for the structuring of the principal concept developed by its authors: the concept of international society. Then, Hedley Bull’s view of International Law will be analyzed. Lastly, we will look at some current developments on the role of norms in contemporary international society. The place of International Law in the argument of the English School Since the 1950s, the English School has been made up of a large group of mainly UK-based academics who agree on treating the international society perspective as an important way of interpreting world politics. Among the authors of its first generation are Charles Manning, Martin Wight, Hedley Bull, Adam Watson, Alan James and John Vincent. Of the more recent authors, we may cite Andrew Hurrell, James Mayall, Robert Jackson, Tim Dunne and Nicholas Wheeler (Suganami, 2003: 256-7). 1 The English School is identified through its emphasis on the concept of international society and on the so-called three traditions. As developed by Hedley Bull (1995: 13), this concept presupposes the existence of a group of States that consider themselves to be linked by certain common values and interests. Their relationships are 1 On the history of the English School and its development, see Dunne (1998) and Souza (2003).