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AbstractKratochwil's magnificent The Status of Law in World Society's first meditation, a philosophical discursus masquerading as a meditation about meditation, addresses how International Law and International Relations deal so differently with their common concerns. Kratochwil treats these concerns with his usual cogency. Yet, critical links are missing. How do we get from speaking as a normative practice to the status of law in today's world? How does language (even more than law) go from an 'agency-related notion' to 'a pervasive force penetrating all social relations'? The bewitchment of the world through language is ontology's greatest mystery, worthy of endless meditation.

For two decades, political theorists have granted recognition a great deal of attention. However, theorists of international relations have not, despite a common interest in identity politics. Instead, the latter take recognition for granted as a long-standing practice enabling states to engage in relations, as equals, under law. I hold that recognition is an unexplored way of addressing the constitution of epochal change in the modern world. I develop this claim first by reviewing what political theorists say about recognition. Not sharing their preoccupation with identity, I also draw on a secondary but still important theme in this literature – recognition's relation to justice. I then turn to the relations of states to show how international society has always exemplified the very processes of recognition that political theorists would like to find within their late modern societies. I conclude with some comments on the enduring properties of international society.