Reality of Norms and Reality: A reply to Fred Grünfeld

In a previous issue of this journal Fred Grünfeld argues that while lawyers fail to take into account social reality once a legal norm has been determined, international relations scholars “skip the norm” and research social reality. On the basis of the subsequent demonstrations, Grünfeld contended (quite rightly) that lawyers and social scientists are not familiar with each other’s work, while studying the same phenomena, although in “different phases”. He, however, argues that such division should be kept in place and lawyers and social scientists should remain working separately. In this reply, I will address both the empirical elements of Grünfeld’s argument as well as his substantive argument of keeping the two disciplines separated.