Mandatory Cooperation Under International Law

Humanity in the twenty-first century faces serious global challenges and crises, including pandemics, nuclear proliferation, violent extremism, refugee migration, and climate change. None of these calamities can be averted without robust international cooperation. Yet, national leaders often assume that because their states are sovereign under international law, they are free to opt in or out of international cooperation as they see fit. This book challenges conventional wisdom by showing that international law requires states to cooperate with one another to address matters of international concern – even in the absence of treaty-based obligations. Within the past several decades, requirements to cooperate have become firmly embedded in the international legal regimes governing oceans, transboundary rivers, disputed territories, pollution, international security, and human rights, among other topics. Whenever states address matters of common concern, international law requires that they work together as good neighbors for their mutual benefit. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Evan J. Criddle is the Ernest W. Goodrich Professor, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, and Director of the Center for International Law and Policy at William & Mary Law School. His scholarship has appeared in the American Journal of International Law, European Journal of International Law, and Yale Journal of International Law.

Evan Fox-Decent is Professor, Canada Research Chair in Cosmopolitan Law and Justice, and President of the Association of McGill Professors of Law at McGill University, Faculty of Law. Other titles include Sovereignty’s Promise: The State as Fiduciary (2012) and Fiduciaries of Humanity: How International Law Constitutes Authority (2016) (with Evan J. Criddle).