Dimitry Kochenov is Professor of EU Constitutional Law in the Department of European and Economic Law, University of Groningen. He consulted for the Government of The Netherlands on the application of EU law in the overseas territories of the kingdom. He is also a regular contributor to a number of leading periodicals in law and political science. Fabian Amtenbrink is Professor of European Union Law at Erasmus University, Rotterdam and at the College of Europe, Bruges. His teaching specialises in constitutional, institutional and substantive law of the European Union. He has published widely in books and journals and also serves on the editorial board of the European Law Review and the European Journal of Consumer Law.

• The active paradigm of the study of the EU's place in the world: an introduction Dimitry Kochenov and Fabian Amtenbrink; Part I. The EU's Shaping of the International Legal Order: The Mechanics: 1. Europe's raison d'être Gráinne de Búrca; 2. The EU, interim global justice, and the international legal order Andrew Williams; 3. Theoretical approaches to a peculiar norm category: shaping the international order as a Union objective Joris Larik; Part II. The EU's Shaping of the International Legal Order: The Evidence: 4. EU values and the shaping of the international context Ester Herlin-Karnell; 5. Promoting the rule of law abroad: on the EU's limited contribution to the shaping of an international understanding of the rule of law Laurent Pech; 6. EU global peace diplomacy: shaping the law on statehood Steven Blockmans; 7. Shaping the WTO's institutional evolution: the EU as a strategic litigant in the WTO Tilman Krüger; 8. EU climate change policy: can the Union be just (and) green? Christina Eckes; 9. The EU's governance of external energy relations: the challenges of a 'rule-based market approach' Peter Van Elsuwege; 10. The EU's shaping of international law on energy efficiency Anatole Boute; 11. The European Union: shaping migration patterns in its neighbourhood and beyond? Laure Delcour; Part III. The European Union and the Global Financial Crisis: 12. Back in balance? The EU and the challenges of international financial regulation Christoph Ohler; 13. The EU and the Euro area in international economic governance: the case of the IMF Jan Wouters, Sven Van Kerckhoven and Thomas Ramopoulos; 14. The EU's financial transaction tax: shaping global financial governance in its own image? Bart Van Vooren; Messianism, mission, or realpolitik? Some concluding observations on the Union's role in shaping the international legal order Dimitry Kochenov and Fabian Amtenbrink.

'The present edited volume is a remarkable and original attempt to study the active role of the Union and its raison d'être, 'zooming in' on the international scene, arguably in return of the process of European integration to its roots in international relations … What is even more revolutionary about the book is the conclusion drawn by the editors that the Union's role of co-shaper of the international legal order is a 'conscious choice', as opposed to an 'unexpected side-effect of the Union's engagement with the international legal order' and that the EU has been 'refining' and 'intensifying' its involvement with the international legal order.' Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou, Yearbook of European Law