The Reconstruction of the Juridico-Political ─ Affinity and Divergence in Hans Kelsen and Max Weber

Focusing upon the elaboration of the concept of the juridico-political in the work of Hans Kelsen and Max Weber, this book provides an important re-assessment of the usual distinction between legal positivism and the sociology of law. The work of Kelsen and Weber is conventionally understood as representing these two radically distinct approaches to the study of law. Through an consideration of their respective elaborations of the juridico-political, the contributors to this volume re-examine this assumption: exploring the convergences and divergences in Kelsen's and Weber's interventions in the fields of political philosophy, political sociology and legal history, as well as in their respective conceptions of modernity, and of the legitimacy and effectiveness of law. In uncovering the complexity of the relationship between Kelsen and Weber, The Reconstruction of the Juridico-Political places into question the conventional division between legal positivism and the sociology of law. It offers a new and more nuanced understanding of the possibilities of a renewed dialogue between these two approaches.

Ian Bryan is Senior Lecturer in Law at the Law School, Lancaster University, UK.

Peter Langford is Senior Lecturer in Law, Department of Law and Criminology, Edge Hill University, UK.

John McGarry is Reader in Law, Department of Law and Criminology, Edge Hill University, UK.