International Law and International Relations: Bridging Theory and Practice

This unique volume examines the opportunities for, and initiates work in, interdisciplinary research between the fields of international law and international relations; disciplines that have engaged little with one another since the Second World War.

Written by leading experts in the fields of international law and international relations, it argues that such interdisciplinary research is central to the creation of a knowledge base among IR scholars and lawyers for the effective analysis and governance of macro and micro phenomena.

International law is at the heart of international relations, but due to challenges of codification and enforceability, its apparent impact has been predominantly limited to commercial and civil arrangements. International lawyers have been saying for years that 'law matters' in international affairs and now current events are proving them right.

International Law and International Relations makes a powerful contribution to the theory and practice of global security by initiating a research agenda, building an empirical base and offering a multidisciplinary approach that provides concrete answers to real-world problems of governance.

This book will be of great interest to all students of international law, international relations and governance.

Thomas J. Biersteker is director of the Watson Institute for International Studies and Brown University's Henry R. Luce Professor of Transnational Organizations. He is co-editor of State Sovereignty as Social Construct, The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance, and Countering the Financing of Global Terrorism.

Peter J. Spiro is Rusk Professor of International Law at the University of Georgia Law School. He is a former State Department and White House official, and has been awarded fellowships from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Open Society Institute. He has published widely on international law and on citizenship theory.

Chandra Lekha Sriram is Professor of Human Rights at the University of East London School of Law. She is author of Globalizing justice for mass atrocities: a revolution in accountability (2005), and Confronting past human rights violations: justice vs. peace in times of transition (2004).

Veronica Raffo is Program Coordinator for the Global Security and Cooperation Program of the Social Science Research Council, in Washington DC. She holds a MSc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.