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By providing an overview of the different theoretical approaches to and perspectives on international law, this book takes readers through fourteen of the most important theories of international law, explaining their origins, core components, and the influence they have had.

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Two fish are swimming in a pond. ´Do you know what?´ the fish asks his friend. ´No, tell me.´´I was talking to a frog the other day. And he told me that we are surrounded by water!´ His friend looks at him with great scepticism: ´Water? Whats that? Show me some water!´

International lawyers often find themselves focused on the practice of the law rather than the underlying theories. This book is an attempt to stir up ´the water´ that international lawyers swim in. It analyses a range of theoretical approaches to international law and invites readers to engage with different ways of legal thinking in order to familiarize themselves with the water all around us, of which we hardly have any perception.

The main aim of this book is to provide interested scholars, practitioners, and students of international law and other disciplines with an introduction to various international legal theories, their genealogies, and possible critiques. By providing an analytical approach to international legal theory, the book encourages readers to enhance their sensitivity to these different approaches and to consider how the presuppositions behind each theory affect analysis, research, and practice in
international law. International Law Theories is intended to assist students, scholars, and practitioners in reflecting more generally about how knowledge is formed in the field.

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The book successfully makes international law theories - or better, ´different ways of thinking about international law´ - accessible and relatable ... If, as Bianchi states, the mission is to ´stir up the water that we, as international lawyers, swim in´ and encourage more lawyers to interrogate their perceptions of what ´water´ even is, then this book might be read as a seductive enticement to get our feet soaking wet. Hemy Mistry, The Modern Law Review

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Andrea Bianchi is Professor of International Law and Head of the International Law Department at The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Previously, he was a Professor at the Catholic University, Milan, Associate Professor at the University of Parma and Professorial Lecturer in International Law at the Bologna Centre of Johns Hopkins University. He has researched and published extensively on various aspects of public international
law, with a particular emphasis on theoretical and methodological issues.

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