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  1. Home
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  3. The United States and the Rule of Law in International Affairs
  • Cited by 22
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
September 2009
Print publication year:
2004
Online ISBN:
9780511491597
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511491597
Subjects:
Public International Law, Law, Politics and International Relations, International Relations and International Organisations
Information

Book description

John Murphy offers an insightful analysis of why the United States does not always accept the rule of law in international affairs, even though it has made immense contributions to its creation, adoption, and implementation. Examining the reasons for this failure, John Murphy analyses a number of cases, not to make a case that the United States has been an international outlaw, but to illustrate the wide-ranging difficulties standing in the way of US adherence to the rule of law. He explains how the nature of the US legal system and the idiosyncrasies of the international legal process combine to compound problems for the United States, and he explores several alternative scenarios for the position of the United States vis-à-vis international law. This timely book offers a much needed examination of US attitudes and practices and makes a major contribution to the contemporary literature in international law and international relations.

Reviews

‘Professor Murphy has written a thoughtful, intellectually rigorous, readily accessible overview of the relationship between the United States and contemporary international law. This volume provides a superb starting point for those seeking to understanding the role of the sole superpower in today’s global legal order.’

Michael Byers - University of British Columbia

‘Professor Murphy’s book will be essential reading for all who wish to understand the complex interaction between international law and US foreign policy. At a time when the US commitment to international law and cooperation is being widely questioned, his informed, insightful and balanced discussion is an important and much-needed contribution.’

Richard B. Bilder - Foley and Lardner Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School

‘The US view of international law has been confused and inconsistent. Is it a tool in the conduct of foreign policy, or an encumbrance? Or is international law simply irrelevant for The Superpower? John Murphy’s book provides essential insight. Free of the polemic that usually infects this debate, it is comprehensive, exhaustively researched, eminently objective, and readable. This is a book that everyone interested in US foreign policy should read.’

Arthur T. Downey - former lawyer, State Department and former staff member, National Security Council

‘No other work has attempted to assess in such detail the role of international law within the process of US foreign policy making. In this respect, the book supplies an excellent, relevant treatment of policy and legal process at its best. The analysis is timely as it incisively treats the implications that international law holds for US foreign policy in the early 21st century..’

Christopher C. Joyner - Georgetown University

‘This book will be enormously valuable to anyone seriously interested in understanding the historical context - and future implications - of current official American views on the proper role of law in international affairs. John Murphy covers this ground issue by issue, interspersing fact and commentary from a wide range of sources with his own solid and balanced analysis’

John Lawrence Hargrove - former Director of Studies and Executive Vice President, American Society of International Law

'… a balanced account of the difficulties faced by the United States …'.

Source: The Times (Law)

'This is the first book-length volume to offer a sustained analysis of the contemporary relationship between the US and international law. … a welcome and important addition to the discussion about the relationship between the US and international law. It covers a range of legal issues in detail and provides a balanced, though very legalist, account that subtly blends the two main poles in this debate.'

Source: International Affairs

'In her important and, likely to be, influential, new book, Anne-Marie Slaughter is unabashed about naming the potential reformers …'

Source: Finnish Yearbook of International Law

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