Routledge Events: The Force of International Law

Events: The Force of International Law presents an analysis of international law, centred upon those historical and recent events in which international law has exerted, or acquired, its force. From Spanish colonization and the Peace of Westphalia, through the release of Nelson Mandela and the Rwandan genocide, and to recent international trade negotiations and the 'torture memos', each chapter in this book focuses on a specific international legal event. Short and accessible to the non-specialist reader, these chapters consider what forces are put into play when international law is invoked, as it is so frequently today, by lawyers, laypeople, or leaders. At the same time, they also reflect on what is entailed in naming these ‘events’ of international law and how international law grapples with their disruptive potential. Engaging economic, military, cultural, political, philosophical and technical fields, Events: The Force of International Law will be of interest to international lawyers and scholars of international relations, legal history, diplomatic history, war and/or peace studies, and legal theory. It is also intended to be read and appreciated by anyone familiar with appeals to international law from the general media, and curious about the limits and possibilities occasioned, or the forces mobilised, by that appeal. Review "This is a superb and wide-ranging collection of essays that... compels us to think in new ways" - Antony Anghie, Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law, University of Utah "A few books change the orientation of a discipline and Events belongs to this distinguished group... Events is an intellectual event of the first order. I cannot imagine International law being taught in the same old way again." - Costas Douzinas, Professor of Law and Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London "A wonderful collection of new thinking about the most enduring questions of international legal order... As we think anew about just how our world is governed, these meditations on the interpretive and political power of law to define where we have been, who we are and where we are going offer terrific food for thought." - David Kennedy, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard University "This is a revelatory collection of essays...The concept of the event turns out to be rich in implications for international law, challenging us to imagine what it might mean to remain open to disruptions, rather than always incorporating or seeking to overcome them." - Susan Marks, Professor of International Law, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) "Intelligently conceived and beautifully composed, this collection marks an important moment in an often excruciatingly polemical debate over the reality, the merits and aspirations of international law." - Peer Zumbansen, Professor of Law and Canada Research Chair in Transnational Economic Governance and Legal Theory, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University "This is a superb and wide-ranging collection of essays that… compels us to think in new ways" Antony Anghie, Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law, University of Utah "A few books change the orientation of a discipline and Events belongs to this distinguished group… Events is an intellectual event of the first order. I cannot imagine International law being taught in the same old way again." Costas Douzinas, Professor of Law and Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London "A wonderful collection of new thinking about the most enduring questions of international legal order… As we think anew about just how our world is governed, these meditations on the interpretive and political power of law to define where we have been, who we are and where we are going offer terrific food for thought." David Kennedy, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Directo