'An excellent conceptual history of how China engaged with Western-made international law in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Mitchell moves fluidly between domestic and transnational spheres of thought, and between different layers of conceptual meaning as they are constantly reconstructed during this era.' Taisu Zhang, Professor of Law, Yale Law School and author of The Ideological Foundations of Qing Taxation (2022)
Introduction: 'In the Nineteenth Century, There was No International Law'; Part I. Preserving Stateliness, 1850–1894: 1. Universal Prosperity; 2. Synarchy; 3. Vast Imperium; Part II. Asserting Sovereignty, 1895–1921: 4. The Public Law of Planet Earth; 5. The Problem of Equality; 6. Reconstituted Hierarchies; Part III. Internationalisms, 1922–2001: 7. Changing Circumstances; 8. New Orders; 9. Perpetual Peace; Conclusion: From Object to Subject? – China in a World of Institutions; Glossary of Chinese and Japanese Names; Bibliography; Index.
