International law is much debated and discussed, but poorly understood. Does international law matter, or do states regularly violate it with impunity? If international law is of no importance, then why do states devote so much energy to negotiating treaties and providing legal defenses for their actions? In turn, if international law does matter, why does it reflect the interests of powerful states, why does it change so often, and why are violations of international law usually not punished? In this book, Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner argue that international law matters but that it is less powerful and less significant than public officials, legal experts, and the media believe. International law, they contend, is simply a product of states pursuing their interests on the international stage. It does not pull states towards compliance contrary to their interests, and the possibilities for what it can achieve are limited. It follows that many global problems are simply unsolvable. The book has important implications for debates about the role of international law in the foreign policy of the United States and other nations. The authors see international law as an instrument for advancing national policy, but one that is precarious and delicate, constantly changing in unpredictable ways based on non-legal changes in international politics. They believe that efforts to replace international politics with international law rest on unjustified optimism about international law's past accomplishments and present capacities.

In General Theory of International Law, Siegfried Wiessner presents a selection of specifically American general theories of and about international law, written by the theorists themselves. Included are American Legal Realism, the New Haven School of Jurisprudence, International and Transnational Legal Process, Liberal Theories of International Law, and theories that link to social sciences, including Law and Economics, Critical Legal Studies, LatCrit, TWAIL, and feminist approaches. The range of these works covers the very concept of international law, its justification, the struggle between formalism and experience, various theories of legitimacy and fairness, the law's effectiveness, empirical analysis, critiques from the margins and the center, and approaches to its improvement. Wiessner's Introduction provides context by placing this selection of American theories into historical context, threading together the sequence and interrelation of their development in the midst of contemporaneous political and philosophical movements, and critically appraising them. This book brilliantly elucidates America's prophetic and reformist role in international law theory. This is no surprise in light of Wiessner's description of America's vision of itself as a leader of thought, the star of that “shining city on a hill.” America is the nonconformist, revolutionary, and scrutinizer of what is beneath the façade precisely because of this vision and its quest to determine what roles America should play on the international front.

This introductory volume to the series of American Classics in International Law is intended to present, put into context, and critically appraise specifically American general theories of and about international law. Those frameworks of ideas include the very concept of international law, its justification, the struggle between formalism and experience, various theories of legitimacy and fairness, the law's effectiveness, empirical analysis, critiques from the margins and the center, and approaches to its improvement. Particular focus is on American Legal Realism, the New Haven School of Jurisprudence, International and Transnational Legal Process, liberal theories of international law, linkages to social sciences, including Law and Economics, Critical Legal Studies, LatCrit, TWAIL, and feminist approaches to the discipline.

Two central questions are at the core of international legal theory: 'What is international law?', and 'Is international law really law?' This volume examines these critical questions and the philosophical foundations of modern international law using the tools of Anglo-American legal theory and western political thought. Engaging with both contemporary and historical legal theory and with an analysis of international law in action, the book builds an understanding and theory of law from the perspective of those who actually use this legal system and understand it, rather than constructing an artificial system from the standpoint of political scientists and moral philosophers. Law at the Vanishing Point provides a fascinating new challenge to those who reduce international law either to ethics or to politics and provides a critical new appraisal of its power as an independent force in human social relations.

Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this volume shows how international law shapes behavior.

Offers an accessible discussion of conceptual and moral questions on international law and advances the debate on many of these topics.