A theory of customary international law Jack L. Goldsmith and Eric A. Posner -- A compliance-based theory of international law Andrew T. Guzman -- Do human rights treaties make a difference? Oona A. Hathaway -- Treaty reservations and the economics of Article 21(1) of the Vienna Convention...

Countries have entered several hundred bilateral labor agreements (BLAs), which control the conditions under which source countries send migrant workers to host countries. What has not been fully explained, or empirically tested, is why countries would sign these agreements. We conduct a...

A trope of international law scholarship is that the United States is an “exceptionalist” nation, one that takes a distinctive (frequently hostile, unilateralist, or hypocritical) stance toward international law. However, all major powers are similarly “exceptionalist,” in the sense that...

Recommended readings (Machine generated): Jack L. Goldsmith and Eric A. Posner (1999), 'A Theory of Customary International Law', University of Chicago Law Review, 66 (4), Autumn, 1113-77 -- Andrew T. Guzman (2002), 'A Compliance-Based Theory of International Law', California Law Review, 90 (6),...

There is considerable variation in countries’ respect for human rights. Scholars have tried to explain this variation on the basis of current conditions in countries—such as democracy and civil war—and events from the recent past, such as ratification of human rights treaties. This...