Books

Is International Law International?

Is International Law International?

Author: Anthea Roberts and Foreword by Martti Koskenniemi
ISBN: 9780190696412
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: 16 October 2017
Price: $39.95

This book takes the reader on a sweeping tour of the international legal field to reveal some of the patterns of difference, dominance, and disruption that belie international law’s claim to universality.

Pulling back the curtain on the “divisible college of international lawyers,” Anthea Roberts shows how international lawyers in different states, regions, and geopolitical groupings are often subject to distinct incoming influences and outgoing spheres of influence in ways that reflect and reinforce differences in how they understand and approach international law. These divisions manifest themselves in contemporary controversies, such as debates about Crimea and the South China Sea.

Not all approaches to international law are created equal, however. Using case studies and visual representations, the author demonstrates how actors and materials from some states and groups have come to dominate certain transnational flows and forums in ways that make them disproportionately influential in constructing the “international.” This point holds true for Western actors, materials, and approaches in general, and for Anglo-American (and sometimes French) ones in particular.

However, these patterns are set for disruption. As the world moves past an era of Western dominance and toward greater multipolarity, it is imperative for international lawyers to understand the perspectives and approaches of those coming from diverse backgrounds. By taking readers on a comparative tour of different international law academies and textbooks, the author encourages them to see the world through the eyes of others — an essential skill in this fast changing world of shifting power dynamics and rising nationalism.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword by Martti Koskenniemi
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

1. The Divisible College of International Lawyers
I. Difference
II. Dominance
III. Disruption

2. Project Design
I. General Framework
II. The Actors and Materials Studied
III. The States and Universities Studied
IV. Important Concepts and Factors
V. Three Points of Method

3. Comparing International Law Academics
I. The Global Flow of Students and Ideas
II. Comparing Educational Profiles
III. Comparing Publication Placements
IV. Comparing Links Between Academia and Practice

4. Comparing International Law Textbooks and Casebooks
I. Preliminary Points of Method
II. The Nationalized/ Denationalized Divide
III. Inconsistent Approaches
IV. A Tendency to Look West
V. A Lack of Diverse Comparativism
VI. Divisions Between the Western and Non- Western Books
VII. Divisions Between Western Books

5. Patterns of Difference and Dominance
I. Comparing International Legal Academies
II. Identifying Scholarly Silos and Attempts to Connect
III. Identifying Patterns of Dominance

6. Disruptions Leading to a Competitive World Order
I. Shifting to a Competitive World Order
II. Disagreements in Practice, Not Just Words

Conclusion

Appendix A. Academics Included in the Study
Appendix B. Scholars Referred to in Select Chinese and Russian International Law Textbooks
Appendix C. Tables of Content for International Law Textbooks
Appendix D. Chinese Research Funding by Topic

Bibliography

Books and Reports
Book Chapters
Journal Articles and Book Reviews
Newspapers, Magazines, and Blogs
Cases
Internet Sources
Speeches and Audio
Statutes, Government Statements, and Decrees
Other

Index

Author Information

Anthea Roberts is Associate Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University. She specializes in public international law, investment treaty law and arbitration, and comparative international law. Anthea previously taught at the London School of Economics as well as Columbia and Harvard Law Schools. She is on the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of International Law, ICSID Review, and the Journal of World Investment and Trade, and blogs for EJIL: Talk! She has twice won the Francis Deák Prize for the best AJIL article by a younger scholar. Anthea serves as a Reporter for the Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, and has experience serving as an arbitrator, counsel, and expert in international disputes.

Reviews and Awards

“I enjoyed reading this book tremendously and have kept coming back to the staggering view of the international law world it offers over again. I am very serious when I say that nothing in the field will be quite the same after this book has been published. It is such an eye-opener.” – Martti Koskenniemi, Professor of International Law (University of Helsinki), and Director, Erik Castrén Institute of International law and Human Rights

“According to a common stereotype, international lawyers are cosmopolitans. In this truly remarkable inquiry, Anthea Roberts shows that their cosmopolitanism remains hostage to a world of nation-states. For Americans in particular, it is disturbing to learn how international law in their country remains parochial. International lawyers across the spectrum in the United States emerge from a particular intellectual sociology, from their professionalization in their practice, even when they speak in a universalist voice – in the languages they (do not) learn, to the textbooks they use, and from the foreign affairs and national security law from which they approach the field, to the concrete positions on matters such as humanitarian intervention they take. Roberts has written a masterpiece.” – Samuel Moyn, Professor of Law, Yale Law School

“This book is a must-read for every international lawyer and negotiator. It thoroughly deconstructs the notion that there is a uniform college of international lawyers who all think alike. It helps us to reflect on our own background and the frame within which we think, and to also recognize and understand the ‘others.’ This is of utmost importance at a time when international legal cooperation is threatened.” –Anne van Aaken, Professor for Law and Economics, Legal Theory, Public International Law, and European Law, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

“Asking the disarming question of whether ‘international law is international,’ Anthea Roberts takes readers on an ingenious tour of the global flow of people and ideas in international law, the role of nationalism and transnational hierarchies in creating unequal and ‘divisible colleges,’ and the implications for foreign policy and for the future of international law. The book is built on painstaking research into the educational background of international law scholars, where they publish and in what languages, how international law casebooks and treatises differ both within the ‘west’ and from the materials in China and Russia. It is a stellar contribution to international law, the study of globalization and legal education, comparative law, international relations, and the sociology of legal knowledge.” – Bryant Garth, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Empirical Research on the Legal Profession, University of California, Irvine School of Law, United States

“Roberts has raised a fundamental issue that both international lawyers and decision-makers cannot afford to ignore in this era of shifting power. This issue is whether international law is ‘international,’ as people might have taken for granted for decades or centuries, and how the ‘international’ is likely to evolve with the rise of new great powers, like China. Her perspective is absolutely unique. Textbooks and casebooks, educational backgrounds, academic publications, and connections to practice – factors that have a significant influence on how international lawyers construct their understanding of the field but whose importance are often overlooked – are painstakingly collected, well-organized and cogently analyzed to support her arguments. What Roberts exhibits, through this book, is not only the strength of her academic insight but her ability to recognize and understand the perspectives of others.” – Cai Congyan, Professor of international law of Xiamen University School of Law

“The results of Anthea Roberts’s investigation sound an alarm for all stakeholders in the field of International Law: the author calls on all of us to recognize the necessity of tearing down the mask of ‘internationality’ from the discipline in its current state and paves the way for changes towards a truly international International Law. Thoughtful and inspiring.” – Vera Rusinova, Professor of the Chair for Public and Private International Law, National Research University, The Higher School of Economics, Russia

“Roberts’s groundbreaking study brings important and new insights into the sociology of the production of international law. It charts the regional and cultural islands that dot this supposedly cosmopolitan sea and provides a deep critique of the field’s universalist aspirations/pretensions. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the international law project, whether working from the inside or as an external observer.”- Paul Stephan, John C. Jeffries, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law, United States

“For a French international lawyer who by necessity has to work in (at least) two languages and navigate different cultural universes, there is no doubt that international law is indeed international, as a crucible of diverse legal cultures. Yet, as Anthea Roberts’s (both intrepid and convincing) book demonstrates, in fact international law needs to be more international and less imperialist in the ways it is formed, practiced and conceptualized. From that perspective, Roberts’s invigorating analysis of national approaches to international law provides a salutary reappraisal of the law of nations that will no doubt frame the field in the future.” – Mathias Forteau, Professor of Public Law, University of Paris Ouest, Nanterre La Défense, France

“International law is full of myths. One of these is the global, universal character of the discipline that distances it from narrow national interests and mindsets. Anthea Roberts’s book investigates this myth in depth and shows how, contrary to the self-depiction of much of the discipline, international legal scholarship differs heavily across countries, is shaped by national traditions and institutional structures, and often follows patterns of dominance in the international system. This is a major achievement that should lead us to ask major questions about international law in a different light. Perhaps the most pressing of these – is international law distinct from international politics, and how? – will now have to be tackled in a far more nuanced way. Thinking about international law will never be quite the same again.” – Nico Krisch, Professor of International Law, the Graduate Institute Geneva, Switzerland

“Anthea Roberts’s book has the potential of re-defining how we think about international law and its realities, both beyond and within the West. It shows us the field of international law in a new light and will open new directions for international legal research in the coming decades.” – Lauri Mälksoo, Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu, Estonia and the author of Russian Approaches to International Law (OUP 2015)

“Anthea Roberts’s book can be compared to a high-quality aerial picture of national and regional international law academias that live on the same planet as neighbours, but barely acknowledge each other’s existence and language. A product of excellent research and very thoughtful observation, the book speaks of differences, yet one of its aftertastes is a sudden sense of how similar all the nationalized approaches are in their parochiality. Roberts destroys the myth of universality only to open a way to genuine understanding of similarities in each other.” – Maria Issaeva, Managing Partner, Threefold Legal Advisors, Russia

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