Courts, Codes, and Custom: Legal Tradition and State Policy toward International Human Rights and Environment Law

Dana Zartner (University of San Francisco). Courts, Codes, and Custom (Oxford University Press, 2014).  

"Courts, Codes, and Custom argues that the degree to which states accept and comply with international legal norms is rooted in a country's domestic legal tradition. Offering a novel cultural-institutional theory to explain this variation, Dana Zartner looks specifically at state policy towards international human rights and environmental law. A state's legal tradition-the cultural and institutional factors that shape attitudes about the law, appropriate standards of behavior, and the legal process-is the key mechanism by which international law becomes recognized, accepted, and internalized in the domestic legal framework. Legal tradition shapes not only perceptions about law, but also provides the lens through which policy-makers view state interests, providing both direct and indirect influence on state policy."

—Publisher's website

The Long Decade: How 9/11 Changed the Law

David Jenkins et al. (eds.) (Copenhagen School of Law). The Long Decade: How 9/11 Changed the Law (Oxford University Press, 2014).

"The terrorist attacks of 9/11 precipitated significant legal changes over the ensuing ten years, a 'long decade' that saw both domestic and international legal systems evolve in reaction to the seemingly permanent threat of international terrorism. At the same time, globalization produced worldwide insecurity that weakened the nation-state's ability to monopolize violence and assure safety for its people. . . .  This book examines how the uncertainties of the 'long decade' made fear a political and legal force, challenged national constitutional orders, altered fundamental assumptions about the rule of law, and ultimately raised questions about how democracy and human rights can cope with competing security pressures, while considering the complex process of crafting anti-terrorism measures."
—Publisher's Website