How International Law Works: A Rational Choice Theory

ISBN-13: 9780195305562 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 272 str.

Andrew T. Guzman

Opis

How International Law Works presents a theory of international law, how it operates, and why it works. Though appeals to international law have grown ever more central to international disputes and international relations, there is no well-developed, comprehensive theory of how international law shapes policy outcomes.

Filling a conspicuous gap in the literature on international law, Andrew T. Guzman builds a coherent theory from the ground up and applies it to the foundations of the international legal system. Using tools from across the social sciences Guzman deploys a rational choice methodology to explain how a legal system can succeed in the absence of coercive enforcement. He demonstrates how even rational and selfish states are motivated by concerns about reciprocal non-compliance, retaliation, and reputation to comply with their international legal commitments.

Contradicting the conventional view of the subject among international legal scholars, Guzman argues that the primary sources of international commitment--formal treaties, customary international law, soft law, and even international norms--must be understood as various points on a spectrum of commitment rather than wholly distinct legal structures.

Taking a rigorous and theoretically sound look at international law, How International Law Works provides an in-depth, thoroughgoing guide to the complexities of international law, offers guidance to those managing relations among nations, and helps us to understand when we can look to international law to resolve problems, and when we must accept that we live in an anarchic world in which some issues can be resolved only through politics.

Recenzje

Guzman's book...presents an impressive, theoretically sound and practically useful theory of international law...Guzman's smartly designed rational choice theory of international law actually helps to explain the role of law in international relations in many situations. This is so valuable compared to some bold theses about international law's irrelevance which carry little empirical support and whose basic assumptions are fragile not least because of their rigidity...In conclusion, Guzman's book should be in a position to rehabilitate the damaged reputation of rational choice as a way of theorizing about international law. I am convinced that many members of the "invisible college" will appreciate the quantum of solace provided by Guzman's theory, even those whose principal hope is for the solace of a quantum theory of international law.

O autorze

Andrew T. Guzman joined the University of California-Berkeley Law School in 2004. Prior to this, he was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Juan R. Torruella, Chief Judge of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in San Juan, Puerto Rico.