Private Power and Global Authority

Claire Cutler offers a critical analysis of the role that international economic law plays in the creation and maintenance of global power relations. By examining the historical and contemporary evolution of merchant law she argues that private interests have governed global economic relations through practices that are little understood. This book is interdisciplinary, drawing upon international relations and law, international political economy and political and legal theories. It makes an important first step toward developing a critical understanding of the political foundations of transnational merchant law.