Claire Cutler's critical analysis of the role that international economic law plays in the creation and maintenance of global power relations examines the historical and contemporary evolution of merchant law. She concludes that private interests have governed global economic relations through practices that are little understood. Interdisciplinary in scope, this study draws upon international relations and law, international political economy and political and legal theories. It will be an important first step toward developing a critical understanding of the political foundations of...

Claire Cutler's critical analysis of the role that international economic law plays in the creation and maintenance of global power relations examines the historical and contemporary evolution of merchant law. She concludes that private interests have governed global economic relations through practices that are little understood. Interdisciplinary in scope, this study draws upon international relations and law, international political economy and political and legal theories. It will be an important first step toward developing a critical understanding of the political foundations of...

Governments today are too often unwilling to intervene in global commerce, and international organizations are too often unable to govern effectively. In their place, firms increasingly cooperate internationally to establish the rules and standards of behavior for themselves and for others, taking on the mantle of authority to govern specific issue areas. Are they stepping into the breach to supply needed collective goods? Or are they organizing themselves in order to prevent governments from interfering in their business? This book explores the meaning of this private international...

This edited volume provides critical reflections on the interplay between politics and law in an increasingly transnationalized global political economy. It focuses specifically on the emergence and operation of new forms of governance that are developing through a variety of transnational contractual practices, institutions, and laws in multiple sectors and areas of economic activity.

Interdisciplinary in nature, the volume includes contributions from law, political science, sociology, and international politics, with the focus on the political foundations of transnational...

Analyzes the dialectic between legal and constitutional innovations which enhance the power of capital, and the alternatives to create a more just world order.