Presents a critical view of international law as an argumentative practice that aims to .depoliticise. international relations. Drawing from a range of material... » 

Presents a critical view of international law as an argumentative practice that aims to .depoliticise. international relations. Drawing from a range of materials, Koskenniemi demonstrates how international law becomes vulnerable to the contrasting criticisms of being either an irrelevant moralist Utopia or a manipulable façade for State interests. He examines the conflicts inherent in international law - sources, sovereignty, .custom. and .world order. - and shows how legal discourse about such subjects can be described in terms of a small number of argumentative rules. «