International Law and the Public: How Ordinary People Shape the Global Legal Order - Paperback

by Geoffrey P. R. Wallace (Author)

In International Law and the Public, Geoffrey P.R. Wallace investigates the public as a crucial, often overlooked, actor in international law. He asks just who is it that counts in the operation of the international legal order. Defying conventional wisdom that sees governments, leaders, generals, lawyers, or elites from the upper echelons of society as the main international legal players, Wallace advances a "popular international law" where ordinary people are considered important legal actors in their own right alongside the usual focus on elites. Far from powerless or unwitting, publics possess both the cognitive and material capacities to understand and contribute to the intricacies of international legal rules. Combining rigorous theorizing with wide-ranging evidence, International Law and the Public is an account of an international legal politics from below, taking seriously the place of ordinary people in international affairs.

Author Biography

Geoffrey P.R. Wallace is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington. He works in the areas of international security and international law focusing on the conduct of actors during armed conflict. He is the author of Life and Death in Captivity.