From Apology to Utopia

University of Helsinki.

• 1. Objectivity in international law: conventional dilemmas; 2. Doctrinal history: the liberal doctrine of politics and its effect on international law; 3. The structure of modern doctrines; 4. Sovereignty; 5. Sources; 6. Custom; 7. Variations of world order: the structure of international legal argument; 8. Beyond objectivism; Epilogue; Bibliography and table of cases.

'From Apology to Utopia is the most significant study of the structure of modern international law from a critical perspective. In the 20 years since its appearance, Koskenniemi has done much (as diplomat and legal practitioner) and written much (notably, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations, on our shared intellectual history). He takes the opportunity of this welcome revised edition to place his first work into perspective - and in a lengthy postscript to reaffirm it in all essentials. But now we see (or think we see) that the antinomies of ideology and utopia are inescapable and are to be lived through - not then a final critique but an analysis of the conditions of the profession by one of its major scholars.' James Crawford, Whewell Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, and Director, Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge