Ordering Pluralism: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Transnational Legal World(French Studies in International Law)

From the viewpoint of the constitutional crisis in Europe, slow UN reforms, difficulties implementing the Kyoto Protocol and the International Criminal Court, and tensions between human rights and trade, Mireille Delmas-Marty's 'journey through the legal landscape' of the early years of the 21st century shows it to be dominated by imprecision, uncertainty and instability. The early 21st century appears to be the era of great disorder: in the silence of the market and the fracas of arms, a world overly fragmented by anarchical globalisation is being unified too quickly through hegemonic integration. How, she asks, can we move beyond the relative and the universal to build order without imposing it, to accept pluralism without giving up on a common law? Neither utopian fusion nor illusory autonomy, Ordering Pluralism is her answer: both an epistemological revolution and an art, it means creating a common legal area by progressive adjustments that preserve diversity. Since an immutable world order is impossible, the imaginative forces of law must be called upon to invent a flexible process of harmonisation that leaves room for believing we can agree on - and protect - common values. 'The book is timely and relevant to the practical concerns of those who work with, and within, the legal system. We must thank Professor Delmas-Marty for her fine work.' From the foreword, Stephen Breyer, Washington, DC

Table of Contents:
Introduction The One and the Many: Pluralism in the Plural Part 1 Processes of Interaction 1. Coordination through Cross-references 2. Harmonisation by Approximation 3. Unification by Hybridisation Part 2 Organisational Levels 4. Regional Organisations 5. Global Organisation Part 3 Speeds of Transformation 6. Asynchrony 7. Polychrony Conclusion In the Land of Organised Clouds?

About the Author :
Mireille Delmas-Marty holds the chair in Comparative Legal Studies and Internationalization of Law at the Collège de France.

Review :
The Series aims to contribute to the dissemination in English of the works of the most eminent international law scholars writing in French...No book could better introduce this Series than Mireille Delmas-Marty's superb volume, Ordering Pluralism...Translated here for the first time into English, Ordering Pluralism provides a vision for the world and suggests a solution based on analyses so strong, illuminating and profound that they will leave no reader indifferent. It cannot help but stimulate a discussion that I hope is only just beginning. The book is informative, replete with interesting insights, and builds on the flow of an elegant argument. The style is alert and the translation excellent. The argument is a very useful read and a welcome addition to the topic. The readers will enjoy it and learn from it.