Rule of Law and Areas of Limited Statehood

Domestic and International Dimensions

Leuven Global Governance series

Edited by Linda Hamid, Research Fellow, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and Institute for International Law, KU Leuven and Jan Wouters, Full Professor of International Law and International Organizations, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam EU and Global Governance, and Director, Institute for International Law and the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium

This thought-provoking book addresses the legal questions raised by areas of limited statehood, in which the State lacks the ability to exercise the full depth of its governmental authority. Featuring original contributions written by renowned international scholars, chapters investigate key issues arising at the junction between both domestic and international rule of law and areas of limited statehood, as well as the alternative modes of governance that develop therein.

‘International law presumes a set of territorially defined sovereign states, but in many parts of the world state control of territory is more fiction than fact. This path-breaking volume considers a whole host of questions about governance in places where the state’s writ does not run. International law will need fresh thinking if it is ever to affect the behavior of the rebels, gangs and unrecognized governments who actually govern beyond the state, and there is no better place to start than this book.’
– Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago, US