Private Power and Global Authority

Transnational merchant law, which is mistakenly regarded in purely technical and apolitical terms, is a central mediator of domestic and global political/legal orders. By engaging with literature in international law, international relations and international political economy, the author develops the conceptual and theoretical foundations for analyzing the political significance of international economic law. In doing so, she illustrates the private nature of the interests that this evolving legal order has served over time. The book makes a sustained and comprehensive analysis of transnational merchant law and offers a radical critique of global capitalism.

• Highly intedisciplinary (international relations, international law, politics, economics theory) • The first comprehensive critique of transnational merchant law • Provocative and radical analysis of the role of ‘private’ interests in the global economy

1. Introduction; 2. Conceptualizing the role of law in the global political economy; 3. Theorizing the role of law in the global political economy; 4. Medieval Lex Mercatoria; 5. State-building: constituting the public sphere and disembedding the private sphere; 6. The modern law merchant and the Mercatocracy; Conclusion: transnational merchant law and global authority: a crisis of legitimacy; Bibliography.

‘… a very valuable step towards embracing a more comprehensive view of the complexity of developments in national, international and transnational law … Private Power and Global Authority deserves to be highlighted in many respects … a much needed study in internal relations. It is, in fact, more precisely a crucial report on international affairs.’ EJIL

\'… constitutes a very valuable step towards embracing a more comprehensive view of the complexity of developments in national, international and transnational law … a worthy attempt to visit and revisit the traditional approaches with which we have all been trained and professionalized … Private Power and Global Authority deserves to be highlighted in many respects … a much-needed study … a crucial report on internal affairs …\'. European Journal of International Law

\'What is interesting, and of high academic importance, is the way in which the author transcends the mere description of the transnational merchant law and places it into its true historical perspective.\' Uniform Law Review