This book inaugurates the ASIL Studies in International Legal Theory, a book series dedicated to clarifying and improving the theoretical foundations of international law. Too often the progressive development and effective implementation of international law have foundered on confusion about first principles. This series seeks to raise the level of public and scholarly discussion about the structure and purposes of the world legal order and how best to achieve global justice through law.

The idea for this series grows out of the International Legal Theory Project of the American Society of International Law. Every year for the past decade, the ASIL has devoted special attention to a different aspect of international law, inviting scholars and practitioners to discuss the theoretical basis of such topics as customary international law, humanitarian law, and universal human rights. The society has published a special issue of the journal International Legal Theory each year, presenting the results of these conversations. The book series ASIL Studies in International Legal Theory replaces this annual publication with a series of monographs and edited volumes considering fundamental questions in the theory, justification, and progressive improvement of the doctrine, substance, and institutions of international law.