International Law as a Belief System considers how we construct international legal discourses and the self-referentiality at the centre of all legal arguments about international law. It explores how the fundamental doctrines (such as sources, responsibility, statehood, personality, interpretation and jus cogens) constrain legal reasoning by inventing their own origin and dictating the nature of their functioning. In this innovative work, d'Aspremont argues that these processes constitute the mark of a belief system. This book invites international lawyers to temporarily suspend some of their understandings about the fundamental doctrines they adhere to in their professional activities. It aims to provide readers with new tools to reinvent the thinking about international law and combines theory and practice to offer insights that are valuable for both theorists and practitioners.

Jean d'Aspremont is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Manchester, where he founded the Manchester International Law Centre (MILC). He is also Professor of International Law at Sciences Po Law School. He is General Editor of the Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law and Director of Oxford International Organizations (OXIO). He was awarded the James Crawford Prize for his work on the International Court of Justice.