Law and Politics of International Regime Conflict

The international order is constituted by a plurality of international regimes - institutionalized arrangements in different issue areas that possess their own norms and procedures. The present book examines how conflict among regimes may arise and probes the role that international law can play in managing such conflict. Throughout the book, the example of trade in cultural products is used to illustrate the evolution of regime conflict and the potential for its management. Conflicts between the goals of 'free trade' and 'cultural diversity' have notably surfaced within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As a result, there is a potential for conflict among WTO law, the UNESCO's Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and human rights. The book posits that three dimensions are characteristic for regime conflict: First, regime conflict is a function of conflict among different social goals or values. Second, such goal conflicts are institutionalized through the interaction of a variety of political actors struggling for influence, often in intergovernmental organizations. Third, regime conflict may manifest itself in conflicts of legal rules. If a state acts in conformity with the rules of one regime, its conduct may trigger a violation of the rules of another regime. The author argues that, while international law cannot be construed as a fully integrated and unified system, it does provide a common language for different regimes to engage with each other. The shared discourse rules of international law enable a degree of coordination of the policies of different regimes, notably through techniques of interpretation and legal priority rules. International law contributes to the management of regime conflict by providing commonly accepted reasons for choosing among competing policy goals. Thoroughly researched and elegantly written, The Law and Politics of International Regime Conflict should be widely recognised as a vital addition to the literature on the fragmentation of international law. It succeeds in getting beyond the now rather stagnant debate on the 'nature' of the international legal system (or systems) by exploring new and productive ways of looking at international legal structure that are informed by anthropology and sociology as well as legal theory. Daniel Ari Baker, European Business Organization Law ReviewPART I: DIMENSIONS OF REGIME CONFLICT ; 1. Culture Is One Thing and Varnish Is Another ; I. Introduction ; II. Regulating Trade in Cultural Products ; III. Regime Conflict and the Fragmentation of International Law ; IV. The Plan of This Book ; 2. Regime Conflict as Goal Conflict ; I. Introduction ; II. Toward a Heterarchy of Goal-Specific Regimes ; III. Goal Conflicts Arising from Trade in Cultural Products ; IV. Conclusion ; 3. Regime Conflict as Institutional Conflict and Power Struggle ; I. Introduction ; II. The Politics of Regime Formation and Regime Interaction ; III. Regime Shifting and Regime Conflict: Trade and Culture ; IV. Conclusion ; 4. Regime Conflict as Conflict among Legal Rules ; I. Introduction ; II. A Theory of Conflict of Rules ; III. Conflict Scenarios Relating to Trade in Cultural Products ; IV. Conclusion ; PART II: MANAGEMENT OF REGIME CONFLICT ; 5. The (Ir)relevance of International Law for Conflict Management ; I. Introduction ; II. Pluralistic Challenges to the Relevance of International Law ; III. Legal Conflict Management within a Unitary International Legal Order ; IV. Conclusion ; 6. From Legal Unity to Communicative Compatibility ; I. Introduction ; II. International Law as a Regime-transcendent Grammar ; III. Shared Background Assumptions of International Relations ; IV. Conclusion ; 7. Conflict Management through Legal Interpretation ; I. Introduction ; II. A Theory of Harmonizing Interpretation ; III. Accommodating the Trade Regime, the Culture Regime and Human Rights ; IV. Conclusion ; 8. Conflict Management through Priority Rules ; I. Introduction ; II. A Typology of Priority Rules ; III. Conflicts among the Trade Regime, the Culture Regime, and Human Rights ; IV. Conclusion ; BIBLIOGRAPHY