Humanity's Law

"This masterful treatise by Teitel, a law professor at New York University, offers one of the best explanations yet of the complex, shifting normative foundations of international law. ... This book is an indispensable guide to understanding these intellectual transformations and their complicated implications for policymakers and the international community."--Foreign Affairs

"In Humanity's Law, Ruti Teitel offers a fascinating guided tour of the emerging synthesis of the international laws once separately described as human rights, the laws of war and international criminal justice. Here she traces both their separate origins and the many ways they have shaped and are reshaping each other. This book is essential reading for every student of international law and politics."--Michael Doyle, Professor of US Foreign and Security Policy, Columbia University

"Ruti Teitel has written a passionate and scholarly account of the emergence of a new transnational law centered on persons and peoples and infused with liberal and egalitarian values. Humanity's Law implicitly raises a fascinating question: How will humanity law adapt to the rise of Chinese power, and what will its impact be in a genuinely multicultural world order?"--Robert O. Keohane, Professor of International Affairs, Princeton University

"Ruti Teitel is an international legal theorist that empirical scholars of international relations always find worthwhile to engage. In describing the paradigm shift from the law of nations to the law of humanity, she always keeps in sight the political context that motivates and reflects these changing legal ideas."--Jack Snyder, Professor of International Relations, Columbia University

"This is an important book because it introduces us to the idea of 'Humanity Law'--a paradigm shift in the way the world is governed in which law has a bigger place and in which individuals as well as states are the subjects of law."--Mary Kaldor, Professor of Global Governance, London School of Economics and Political Science

"...the best study yet of how international law is shifting emphasis from bolstering the security of states to protecting individuals from states."--New Statesman 

"...a major contribution to understanding the transformed baselines of international law, an integrated account of how international law has reoriented to humanity."--Opinio Juris 

"...a powerful account of one of the central transformations of the post-Cold War era: the profound normative shift in the international legal order from prioritizing state security to protecting human security. ... essential reading for anyone attempting to grasp the momentous changes occurring in global affairs as the management of conflict is increasingly driven by the claims and interests of persons and peoples, and state sovereignty itself is transformed."--International Law Reporter 

"Ruti Teitel has written a profound and important book. Her concept of 'humanity law' is the first successful effort that I have seen to capture and frame the deep paradigm shift that is taking place in international law and relations. She draws from the basic principles of the law of war, human rights law, and international criminal law to develop a powerful unifying framework based on the protection of persons and peoples both within states and between them. The rich tapestry of ideas and sources that this book weaves together will be studied for many years to come."--Anne-Marie Slaughter, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University, and former Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department