The Status of Law in World Society

Friedrich Kratochwil is Emeritus Chair of International Relations at the European University Institute in Florence, Visiting Professor at the Central European University, Budapest and International Scholar at Kyung Hee University, Seoul. His work addresses epistemological and theoretical problems in international relations, international law, international organization and social theory. He was editor of the European Journal of International Relations and has served on various editorial boards. He is the author of several books, including Rules, Norms, and Decisions (Cambridge University Press, 1989) and The Puzzles of Politics, an anthology of articles (2011).

• Preface; Introduction: images of law; 1. Inter-disciplinarity, the epistemological ideal of incontrovertible foundations and the problem of praxis; 2. On the concept of law; 3. On constitutions and fragmented orders; 4. Of experts, helpers, and enthusiasts; 5. The power of metaphors and narratives: systems, teleology, evolution and the issue of the 'global community'; 6. Cosmopolitanism, publicity, and the emergence of a 'global administrative law'; 7. The politics of rights; 8. The limits and burdens of rights; 9. The bounds of (non)-sense.

'Kratochwil is one of the few contemporary academics straddling the line between international relations theory and international law. He is not just a political scientist, but a political thinker firmly based in classic as well as modern social philosophy. The meditations assembled in the present book bring out the best in Kratochwil's writing: they are enlightening, of course, but they are also a pleasure to read, acerbic, iconoclastic and challenging our established wisdom on many concepts we have taken for granted.' Bruno Simma, University of Michigan and former judge, International Court of Justice