Part III draws together the central threads in the preceding chapters and takes the analysis a step further. Chapter 8 draws particular attention to the importance of context in ECtHR jurisprudence relating to ECHR Article 9, contending that in taking different approaches and reaching different outcomes in ostensibly similar Article 9 cases, the ECtHR is not necessarily being inconsistent. Rather, its approach can be explained by recognising the significance of the facts; the facts help the ECtHR identify what is at stake in a particular case and respond accordingly. In developing this, this chapter explores the importance placed on contextual differences between, and within, Member States by the ECtHR in Article 9 cases, and refers to the major role of the facts in cases concerning other ECHR Articles. Finally, it explores some of the broader cultural, social and political factors the ECtHR may legitimately take into account in Article 9 assessments, and considers the impact of the increased focus on the local context in declarations on reform of the ECHR system on the ECtHR.

A core justification for the electoral college, and its violations of political equality, is that it is necessary to protect important interests that would be overlooked or harmed under a system of direct election of the president. Yet such claims are based on faulty premises. States—including states with small populations—do not embody coherent, unified interests and communities, and they have little need for protection. Even if they did, the electoral college does not provide it. Contrary to the claims of its supporters, candidates do not pay attention to small states. The electoral college actually distorts the campaign by discouraging candidates from paying attention to small states and to much of the rest of the country as well. Instead, they devote their attention to competitive states. It is also the case that people of color do not benefit from the electoral college, because they are not well positioned to determine the outcomes in states. As a result, the electoral college system discourages attention to their interests. It does, however, provide the potential for any cohesive special interest concentrated in a large, competitive state to exercise disproportionate power.

Chapter 7 notes that there is a significant lacuna in the posited social anarchist position. One might expect that any view described as an “anarchist” position will include an endorsement of the political anarchist thesis that the mere existence of a state is unjust, with some persons thereby having an obligation to abolish any existing states. However, this contention does not appear among the five social anarchist theses defended by the book. Chapter 7 defends this choice by arguing that political anarchism is implausible. Specifically, it contends that political anarchists must provide an analysis of statehood that entails that (a) any group that qualifies as a state is unjust in a way that its non-state counterpart is not and (b) there are existing states. It then argues that there is no plausible analysis of statehood that satisfies both of these desiderata.

In the Early Modern Period the idea of a unified Christian community in Western Europe shattered due to Protestantism and the religious wars that ensued. The idea of self-governed, sovereign, states emerged, as did the idea that ruler were put in place to serve and protect the people under his reign. In this time of discovery and early Enlightenment novel notions like that of a conditional social contract between a ruler and his subjects, the role of the state, individuality and individual freedom came up.

This chapter discusses the subjects of international law: how states come into being, and how international organizations are created.

Chapter 2 describes how Roman and medieval of notions of imperium were re-appropriated during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to describe the sovereignty claims of nascent states as well as to legitimize their territorial aggrandizement in Europe and beyond. Since early modern conceptions of sovereignty came with few restrictions on the scope of rule in terms of peoples or places that could be legitimately subjected to its authority, early modern authors made no categorical distinction between empires and states. But even if these authors had no clear conception of a distinctive international realm, they nevertheless developed a rich vocabulary for describing relations between different polities in and out of Europe. Many of those who resisted imperial aggrandizement during this period maintained that the quest for universal sovereignty violated the natural liberty of both individuals and states and proposed that upholding the balance of power between European empires cum states was crucial to the preservation of natural liberty. From this Enlightenment historians and lawyers concluded that European powers constituted a system of sovereign and formally equal states held together by public law and balance of power in equal measures.

This chapter discusses the historical practice of privateering, in particular its role in the making and breaking of empires. Focusing on privateering allows us to highlight both the persistence of past institutions and the extent to which the present breaks with the past. Privateering disrupts tidy dichotomies, such as between mediaeval and modern, public and private and state and empire. Today, privateering is most obviously present through its absence. The Treaty of Paris of 1856, which abolished privateering, helped normalizing the idea of a modern state with a monopoly on legitimate violence and the oceans as a global common under the control of benign hegemons. Ambiguities between private and public violence at sea were forgotten, as was the extensive ‘peripheral’ agency, obvious in how privateering was used time and again to oppose the leading powers of the day.

The stabilization of drone programs and their implementation as part of the normal functioning of the state deserve much more attention than it has received, since the power it conveys goes far beyond prompt lethal strikes in foreign territories. The institutionalization of a drone program not only means that the extensive warfare that drones bring about is stable, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, because a drone program consists of the constant surveillance of populations "living under drones." Behavioral changes (in addition to the evident psychological ramifications) of populations living under drones have been proven, at both the individual and community level. This chapter makes clear that a transborder drone program cannot be viewed as occasional interventions in self-defense. Instead, through an institutionalized drone program, a state performs rituals of governance and sovereignty over the populations it monitors. The chapter conceptualizes the extension of state power over the populations of third states and explores what it means for the international legal order that the law is essential to such an extension.

Unlike late nineteenth-century nostalgists, modern readers are unlikely to conclude that the Company was an enlightened promoter of knowledge. Still, those concerned with the present relations among companies, states, and knowledge might learn much from the earlier debates in which it was involved.

Public international law is a worldwide legal system which regulates the conduct of states (countries) and other actors, both in their international relations and within states’ territories. It governs many areas, such as sovereignty over territory; rights and responsibilities at sea; environmental protection; human rights and the suppression of international crimes; trade and investment; the use of military force; responsibility for breaches of the law; and the settlement of disputes. This chapter introduces the main features of public international law, including its history, sources and purposes. It outlines what the law regulates, who has rights and bears obligations under it, and how it is implemented and enforced. The chapter then considers jurisprudential debates about the nature of public international law as ‘law’ and the reasons for compliance with it, and concludes with discussion of some key critical theories.

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 contains the body of rules governing the law of treaties. Its scope covers treaties between states. The rules largely reflect customary international law. So even where states are not parties to the Convention, its rules will often apply to their treaty relations by virtue of customary international law. Treaties between a state and an international organisation, or between international organisations, are not covered by the 1969 Convention. But international organisations may be party to the separate Vienna Convention of 1986, which adapts the rules of the 1969 Convention to international organisations. If they are not parties to the 1986 Convention, customary international law will apply to their treaty relations. The 1969 Convention does not cover oral agreements, which are in any case extremely rare. The 1969 Convention does not have retrospective effect. The implications of this are discussed.

This chapter considers the various functions of States in international commercial and investment arbitration, which are essentially twofold. First, States are legislators and the creators of the system, and they also assist its development through their conduct which informs the interpretation of relevant treaties, such as BITs. Secondly, States are also parties to such proceedings, usually as the respondent to a claim, but also possibly also as the claimant, as a counter-claimant, and as a non-party intervener. This chapter then considers issues faced by States when acting as the respondent, and discusses how States might best prepare for and handle such disputes, and it also identifies various procedural issues which are likely to arise in such arbitral proceedings. It concludes that States have a complex combination of roles in international arbitration, and that the challenges in responding to claims can be managed if States are willing to learn from the decades of experience which States now have of participating in international arbitration proceedings.

Since the early 2000s, substantial progress has been made toward raising awareness about the need for a rapid transition to WWS. A movement toward 100 percent clean, renewable energy has begun. Popular support for such a transition has grown, as have the numbers of laws and commitments furthering that goal. Such commitments have been made by cities, states, provinces, countries, international businesses, nonprofits, community groups, policymakers, and individuals. This chapter discusses my personal journey to develop and implement 100 percent WWS roadmaps, and how these roadmaps and collaborations with other scientists, cultural influencers, business leaders, and community leaders helped to shape the 100 percent WWS movement.

Finally, in Chapter 10 I close the book by discussing some broader conclusions about the study of ethnicity and ethnic change, while also speculating about future prospects for the relationship between industrialization and assimilation. In the former case I focus on such topics as future quantitative work using data on ethnicity, our understanding of individuals who change their ethnic identities, the role of the state in enforcing or promoting ethnic identification and policy implications as regards promoting industrialization. In the latter case I return to my original dataset of country censuses from Chapter 4 to see if the relationship between industrialization and ethnic diversity changes over time. Upon introducing an interaction effect, I find evidence for a declining effect over time, although it appears that the interaction effect is driven by observations from the Americas, a result for which I find evidence in the secondary literature as well.

This chapter defines robustness and fragility, argues that they can only be determined confidently in retrospect, but that assessments made by political actors, whilst subjective, have important political implications. We suggest some of the consideration that may shape these assessment. They include ideology, historical lessons, and the Zeitgeist. We go on to describe the following chapters, providing an outline of the book.