Description: The last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century has been one of the most challenging periods for the generally accepted assumptions of international law. This book, first published in 2006, grapples with these long-held assumptions (such as the consent basis of international law norms, equality of nations, restrictive or text-based treaty interpretations and applications, the monopoly of internal national power, and non-interference), and how they are being fundamentally altered by the forces of globalization. It also examines the challenges facing the WTO as a component of international economic law, and how that field is inextricably linked to general international law.
Brief description: John H. Jackson is a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Review Quotes: "The book's account of the workings of the GATT/WTO is a magisterial overview of the field, and Jackson brings to the book an intimate knowledge of the working habits of the organization (or non-organization, in the case of the GATT) and a breadth of view that comes from decades of close attention to its work and to its successes and failures. It is for these virtues that most readers will go to this text. The observations on the theoretical implications and possibilities of the material with which Jackson deals are bonuses, lightening the text and opening up avenues for later exploration."
-- Vaughan Lowe, All Souls College, Oxford