Scholars of international human rights law are largely unfamiliar with law and society scholarship, while the study of international human rights has remained at the margins of the law and society movement. International Law and Society: Empirical Approaches to Human Rights seeks to bridge this gap by presenting the work of a growing number of academics who are adopting a range of empirical approaches to international human rights. Drawn from the fields of anthropology, sociology, political science and law, the studies featured in this volume use a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze core issues of international law and human rights, such as compliance, the development of norms and the role of social movements.

The book distils and articulates international law as a social construct. It does so by analysing its social foundations, essence, and roots in practical and socially workable (as opposed to 'pure') reason. In addition to well-known doctrines of jurisprudence and international law, it draws upon psycho-analytic insights into the origins and nature of law, as well as philosophical social constructivism. The work suggests that seeing law as a social construct is crucial to our understanding of international law and to the struggle to create better working rules. The book re-conceptualizes both past and new doctrines of international law as 'constructs', namely, as strategies of concomitantly de-mythologizing and re-mythologizing international law. Key areas of international law, including subjects, sources, hierarchy, values, and remedies, are shown to be part of this process. The social impact on international law of transnational actors and stakeholders, normative fragmentation, global justice, legitimacy of both rules and players, dynamics and hierarchization of norms, compliance and implementation in municipal law is also extensively investigated. Five basic values of the international community, namely security, humanity, wealth, environment, and knowledge, are explored by stressing their inter- and intra-tensions. Finally, the analysis is extended to the role that international courts play in the prosecution of heads of state and other transnational players who violate international law.

Introduction to and survey of the field of law and society. Includes interdisciplinary perspectives on law from sociology, criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social psychology, and economics.

The Oxford Handbook of International Legal Theory provides an accessible and authoritative guide to the major thinkers, concepts, approaches, and debates that have shaped contemporary international legal theory. The Handbook features 48 original essays by leading international scholars from a wide range of traditions, nationalities, and perspectives, reflecting the richness and diversity of this dynamic field. The collection explores key questions and debates in international legal theory, offers new intellectual histories for the discipline, and provides fresh interpretations of significant historical figures, texts, and theoretical approaches. It provides a much-needed map of the field of international legal theory, and a guide to the main themes and debates that have driven theoretical work in international law. The Handbook will be an indispensable reference work for students, scholars, and practitioners seeking to gain an overview of current theoretical debates about the nature, function, foundations, and future role of international law.

In an era where the population is rapidly ageing, this timely Research Handbook addresses the wide-ranging social and legal issues concerning older people.

This is the fourth in the Series of Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) featuring the most important and interesting papers presented at the Fifth Biennial Conference on 'Regionalism and International Law', organised by ESIL and the University of Valencia in 2012. As usual, the best papers from that conference have been re-written, edited and drawn together by the two editors to present a perspective on what is a flourishing forum for the discussion of new ideas and scholarship on international law.

Leading law and society scholars apply an empirically grounded approach to the study of transnational legal ordering and its effects within countries.

This book is a small step in that direction to discuss the challenges extensively on the issues relating to international law and find pragmatic and lasting solutions to overcome those challenges. The work is based on the fundamental principles, objectives, and values that underpin the field of international law and the pursuit of justice in the international arena. It underscores the crucial role of legal norms, institutions, and mechanisms in fostering cooperation, resolving conflicts, and promoting peace and development on a global scale. It recognizes the complexity and ever-evolving nature of the international system, requiring constant adaptation and innovation in legal frameworks to address emerging challenges. The book aims to examine and analyse the emerging issues in the international arena of today’s times. It acknowledges the inherent challenges in achieving universal adherence to international law and the pursuit of justice. It recognizes the necessity of multilateral cooperation, diplomatic dialogue, and the strengthening of international institutions to overcome these challenges collectively. It calls for a commitment to the rule of law, respect for human dignity, and the protection of the most vulnerable among us. In conclusion, this work sets the stage for a comprehensive exploration of international law and justice. It invites readers to delve into the complexities, debates, and transformative potential of this field, and to actively contribute to the ongoing quest for a more just and peaceful world.

This book offers a social theoretical analysis of imaginaries as constituent social forces of positive law and politics. Constitutional imaginaries invite constitutional and political theorists, philosophers and sociologists to rethink the concept of constitution as the normative legal limitation and control of political power. They show that political constitutions include societal forces impossible to contain by legal norms and political institutions. The constitution of society as one polity defined by the unity of topos-ethnos-nomos, that is the unity of territory, people and their laws, informed the rise of modern nations and nationalisms as much as constitutional democratic statehood and its liberal and republican regimes. However, the imaginary of polity as one nation living on a given territory under the constitutional rule of law is challenged by the process of European integration and its imaginaries informed by transnational legal and societal pluralism, administrative governance, economic performativity and democratically mobilised polity. This book discusses the sociology of imagined communities and the philosophy of modern social imaginaries in the context of transnational European constitutionalism and its recent theories, most notably the theory of societal constitutions. It offers a new approach to the legal constitutions as societal power formations evolving at national, European and global levels. The book will be of interest to scholars and students interested in constitutional and European law theory and philosophy as much as interdisciplinary and socio-legal studies of transnational law and society.