Two fish are swimming in a pond. 'Do you know what?' the fish asks his friend. 'No, tell me.' 'I was talking to a frog the other day. And he told me that we are surrounded by water!' His friend looks at him with great scepticism: 'Water? Whats that? Show me some water!' International lawyers often find themselves focused on the practice of the law rather than the underlying theories. This book is an attempt to stir up 'the water' that international lawyers swim in. It analyses a range of theoretical approaches to international law and invites readers to engage with different ways of legal thinking in order to familiarize themselves with the water all around us, of which we hardly have any perception. The main aim of this book is to provide interested scholars, practitioners, and students of international law and other disciplines with an introduction to various international legal theories, their genealogies, and possible critiques. By providing an analytical approach to international legal theory, the book encourages readers to enhance their sensitivity to these different approaches and to consider how the presuppositions behind each theory affect analysis, research, and practice in international law. International Law Theories is intended to assist students, scholars, and practitioners in reflecting more generally about how knowledge is formed in the field.

Unlock the profound significance of International Legal Theories within Political Science with this comprehensive guide. Gain insights into the legal principles that shape global governance and justice, enhancing your expertise in this critical field. Chapters Summaries: 1. International Legal Theories - Explore foundational and contemporary theories in international law and their impact on global legal norms. 2. Jurisprudence - Examine the philosophical foundations of law and their influence on international legal frameworks. 3. Philosophy of Law - Discover theoretical perspectives guiding the interpretation and application of legal principles across borders. 4. Legal Positivism - Understand the doctrine that laws are human-made rules and its implications for international legal systems. 5. Peremptory Norm - Learn about the highest, non-violable norms in international law, like prohibitions against genocide and torture. 6. Regime Theory - Investigate how international regimes manage global issues through legal and institutional frameworks. 7. Reflectivism - Examine the critical approach to international law, focusing on the social and political contexts shaping legal norms. 8. History of International Law - Trace the evolution of international law from its origins to present-day principles. 9. International Law - Get an overview of rules and principles governing relations between states and other international actors. 10. Legal Anthropology - Analyze how legal systems reflect societal norms and values. 11. Crime - Study international legal frameworks addressing transnational crimes and efforts to combat them. 12. Civil Liberties - Understand the protection of individual rights within international law. 13. Chinese Law - Examine Chinese legal traditions and their impact on international interactions. 14. International Relations - Analyze how international law influences global diplomacy. 15. International Human Rights Law - Investigate mechanisms designed to protect human rights globally. 16. Enforcement - Learn about methods and challenges in enforcing international legal norms and agreements. 17. Humanitarian Intervention - Discuss legal and ethical considerations of using force to protect human rights. 18. Constructivism (International Relations) - Understand how ideational factors shape international law. 19. English School of International Relations Theory - Explore contributions to the understanding of international society and legal order. 20. Abram Chayes - Learn about this influential legal scholar's contributions to international law. 21. Right to Truth - Delve into the emerging principle that victims and society have the right to know the truth about human rights violations. Ideal for professionals, students, and enthusiasts, this book provides advanced knowledge, ensuring you stay ahead in the field of international law.

A reader-friendly overview of leading theoretical approaches to international law for students, scholars, and practitioners.

This book analyzes China’s attitude to international law based on historical experiences and documents, and provides an explanation of China’s approaches to international legal issues. It also establishes several elements for a possible framework of Chinese theory on international law. The book offers researchers, university students and practitioners valuable insights into how China views international law and why it does so in the way it does.

This updated and revised second edition, with contributions from renowned experts, provides a comprehensive scholarly framework for analyzing the theory and history of international law. Featuring an array of legal and interdisciplinary analyses, it focuses on those theories and developments that illuminate the central and timeless basic concepts and categories of the international legal system, highlighting the interdependency of various aspects of theory and history and demonstrating the connections between theory and practice.

Nicholas Onuf’s International Legal Theory: Essays and Engagements 1966-2007 is a collection of the author’s articles and book reviews from the period, including some previously unpublished material. The book records the author’s efforts to address important problems in international legal theory and to engage other scholars who were also addressing these problems. As well as demonstrating Onuf’s own constructivist contribution to the theoretical dimension of international law and international relations, each piece is preceded by a short introduction which highlights the wider themes and developments which have occurred in the field of international law in the last forty years.

This book discusses the above-mentioned topics from a multidisciplinary perspective.

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.

Feminist approaches to international law have been mischaracterised by the mainstream of the discipline as being a niche field that pertains only to women’s lived experiences and their participation in decision-making processes. Exemplifying how feminist approaches can be used to analyse all areas of international law, this book applies posthuman feminist theory to examine the regulation of new and emerging military technologies, international environmental law and the conceptualisation of the sovereign state and other modes of legal personality in international law. Noting that most posthuman scholarship to date is primarily theoretical, this book also contributes to the field of posthumanism through its application of posthuman feminism to international law, working to bridge the theory and practice divide by using posthuman feminism to design and call for legal change. This interdisciplinary book draws on an array of fields, including philosophy, queer and feminist theories, postcolonial and critical race theories, computer science, critical disability studies, science and technology studies, marine biology, cultural and media studies, Indigenous onto-epistemologies, critical legal theory, political science and beyond to provide a holistic analysis of international law and its inclusions and exclusions. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to students and scholars with interests in legal, feminist and posthuman theory, as well as those concerned with the contemporary challenges faced by international law.