466 Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1914– )
collective human mental development (which in turn was reminiscent of
the ideas of the medieval Spanish Muslim phi los o pher Ibn Rushd, or Aver-
roes). Th e goal in Teilhard’s system was what he called Omega, which was
basically the unifi cation of all human consciousness into one, including a
unifi cation with God.
Certain aspects of Allott’s theory are in tune with more modern thinkers.
Th e constitutionalists and the global administrative law group, for example,
both incline toward a progressive unifi cation of the human race. In their
case, however, the unifi cation is to take place under a set of constitutional
rules, or of bureaucratic or administrative dictates, rather than within the
warm and vital bosom of a universal consciousness. Allott’s ideas are, in
fact, a sort of quasi- religious or mystical counterpart of the constitutionalist
and global administrative programs. It is hardly surprising, though, that
most working international lawyers have felt more comfortable taking
the constitutional and administrative paths and have accordingly resisted the
allure of Allott’s remarkable neo- stoic- cum- neo- medieval confection. Per-
haps they are the poorer for it.
Triumph—and Re sis tance
It has been observed that in no ancient society was there a deity of inter-
national law. In more recent times, international law has been said to suf-
fer from a defi ciencies of a more characteristically modern kind: poor
public relations, and the absence of a constituency. In the immediate af-
termath of the Second World War, Clyde Ea gleton ably articulated the
problem:
Th e great weakness of international law has always been that it has not
commanded public interest and support. It has been faraway and
mysterious— the sort of thing you read about in spy thrillers, but which
you never touch as an individual.... [U]nless international law can be
brought closer to the individual, unless he can see the benefi ts which it
off ers him as a person, unless he can feel the pull of loyalty and duty
toward it, the average citizen will not give it... support.