Friendship between Nations and the Theory of International Public Goods: A Balancing Act between Minilateralism and Multilateralism

Abstract

This investigation has the purpose of showing that given the fragmentation of classic multilateralism in the context of international law of trade and politics, an emerging minilateralism that provides international relations with a new and fair context, is juridically and morally acceptable as long as human dignity be deemed both a value and a source of law. By means of a dogmatic and hermeneutic methodology and once the features of the tension between multilateralism and minilateralism, the arguments defending a good nationalism and the connection of these notions with a study of the theory of public goods in the context of international friendship that states that they are objectively good on the basis of some approaches of a classic (platonic) theory of justice and the use of some tools of law and economics have been presented, it is discovered that States and their representatives continuously engage in calculations in order to obtain and preserve what they consider good and beneficial, and it is concluded that a balance between minilateralism and multilateralism can be achieved as long as human dignity is considered both a source and value of the law.