Introduction: Africa and International Relations Theory

Abstract

This volume is an attempt to explore the value of rational-choice analysis for the study of international law. As the editors suggest, the field of international law has been quite resistant to rational-choice analysis. It is important to recognize, however, that the enterprise of which this volume is an example is not new. Political scientists have used rational-choice analysis for two decades to understand international institutions, beginning notably with a special issue of International Organization in 1982.2 Some international legal scholars understood fairly quickly that international institutions, in the language of political science, were largely equivalent to international law as they understood it. Indeed, Anne-Marie Slaughter characterized institutionalist work on international regimes as reinventing international law in rational-choice language.3 Kenneth Abbott was the pioneer among international legal scholars in introducing political scientists arguments about institutions into the legal literature.4 More recently, another special issue of International Organization this time an interdisciplinary venture involving international legal scholars - has been devoted to the subject of legalization.5