An endless literature exhorts us to ask whether international arbitrators have some sort of a duty or obligation to enforce rules of mandatory law. Such an abstract inquiry - untethered from the positive law implications of arbitral failure, or the pragmatic constraints that push individual...

Theory about the relevance of soft law abounds; empirical research on the topic does not. This study begins to even out this imbalance by not only developing a number of conjectures based on institutional economics, but also by testing them empirically. Based on all 2,289 soft laws concluded by...

Trade scholars are preoccupied with the debate over constitutionalism at the WTO. Much of this literature presupposes that the trade regime is properly understood as a constitutional entity. However, neither WTO texts nor practice supports this understanding. The striking disjunction between...

This essay addresses the need to redefine current notions of sovereignty. It returns to earlier concepts of subjects joining to receive the benefits of peace and security provided by the sovereign. It diverges from most contemporary commentary by avoiding what has become traditional second-tier...

This chapter will provide an introduction to the notions of Sustainable Development and ‘best available techniques’ (BATs), which appear ever so often in treaties and other international legal documents. The aim is to demonstrate the rising importance and usefulness of such notions,...

This article develops a dynamic institutional theory of international law that integrates and builds from insights in the legal, economics (game theory), and international relations disciplines. While a number of scholars have applied game theory and international relations theories to...

While customary law is capable of creating universally binding rules, the rules that govern its formation allow states to gain an exemption from emerging norms of customary law by remaining persistent objectors. This form of objection requires the objecting state to take express action to oppose...