On the other hand, there is a (continued) development of the concept of positive law and of the specificity of the form of law, revealing an exact understanding of factual legal contexts and processes. Systematically though, doubts are cast both on the assumption of the reasonable validity of the basic norms of international law – which seems to collide with the fact of cultural differences and with the heterogeneity of human legal practices –, and on the assumption of a possible positing of the general law of reason – which cannot integrate the lack of essential Institutions of positive law in the international space. In this perspective, our interests go beyond the historical reconstruction of the important, yet still insufficiently acknowledged position of Vitoria towards a systematic debate of it.
Besides the fundamental questions of the character and conditions of this normative order, there arise some more specific topics, like the conception(s) of statehood and legal subjectivity, the authority of law and of diverse institutions, and the concept and role of human rights.
