This chapter advances a new and non-Eurocentric theoretical framework for understanding the concepts of 'sovereignty' and 'world order' in international relations. Before the West is focused on a particular type of sovereignty – labelled Chinggisid sovereignty – which was influential throughout parts of Asia from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuriess. This understanding of sovereignty was extremely centralised around the person of the ruler and was legitimated by the notion of world empire. The empire of Genghis Khan disseminated this sovereignty norm and its associated institutions across Asia. Before the West thus argues that Asia was dominated by world-ordering projects in this Chinggisid mould from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and their loss (as well the connections they facilitated) contributed to the perception of ‘the decline of the East’ from the seventeenth century onwards, even though Asia was not surpassed materially by the West until much later. This reconstructed grand narrative of the history of Asian International Relations also has significant implications for contemporary debates on crisis and decline.

Each state enjoys full sovereignty over its territory and therefore has, in principle, full jurisdiction over events and persons within its territory. The term “jurisdiction” is often associated with the power of a court to hear a case, but judicial or adjudicative jurisdiction is just one of three manifestations of jurisdiction. The exercise of jurisdiction is also manifested in the authority of states to prescribe rules (legislative or prescriptive jurisdiction) and the power of states to enforce rules (enforcement jurisdiction). Although the power of states to exercise jurisdiction follows from the principle of sovereignty, this power is not unlimited. Each state has to respect the personality and sovereign equality of other states, and overstepping this boundary entails a violation of public international law. This limitation is most pertinent when a state exercises jurisdiction outside its own territory, for example when it enforces domestic legislation outside of its territory or when it extends the application of its domestic laws to people, property, or events outside its own territory. This chapter discusses the scope of the jurisdiction of states when states exercise enforcement, prescriptive, and adjudicative jurisdiction in relation to persons, property, and acts outside their own territory.

This chapter argues that the empire of Genghis Khan made 'Asia' and/or 'the East'. Genghis Khan not only politically unified most of Asia in the thirteenth century but also changed the conception of sovereignty throughout the continent by disseminating, through his own example, the norm of the political ruler as the exclusive supreme authority, legitimised by world domination. This chapter gives an overview of the rise and decline of the Chinggisid world order (as constructed by the Mongol world empire and later maintained by the successor khanates: Yuan, Chaggataid, Ilkhanate, Jochid/Golden Horde). At its peak this world order covered most of Asia, from present-day China in the East to present-day Russia in the North and the present-day Middle East in the West. However, even the areas offically out of the reach of the Mongols (e.g. the Indian subcontinent) were very much influenced by them. This chapter also introduces institutions associated with the Chinggissid sovereignty norm – such as tanistry and astronomy/astrology – that will be traced to subsequent world orders. It also speculates about the possible causes for the decline of this world order, including the plague.

This chapter focuses on the rules set out in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). The chapter begins with the concept of a treaty, before discussing treatymaking, with a particular focus on the conclusion of treaties, their entry into force, and reservations to treaties. The chapter then delves into how treaties operate -- namely, their scope of application and their interpretation. Finally, this chapter looks at the invalidity, suspension, and termination of treaties.

International organizations perform activities in areas in which states can no longer operate effectively in isolation, and in which there is a common interest in cooperation within a permanent international framework. This chapter will examine international organizations primarily from a legal perspective. The chapter aims to present a general overview of the law of international organizations. It discusses the legal status, privileges, and immunities of international organizations. The chapter further deals with membership issues, powers, and institutional structures. The chapter also looks at decisions of international organizations: the way in which they are taken and the different types of decisions. The chapter will briefly examine the finances of international organizations. There has been an exponential increase in activities of international organizations over the years. Not all of these activities have been successful, however, and there have been failures and wrongdoings. In recent years, a much-debated issue is the extent to which international organizations and/or their members may be held responsible for such failures and wrongdoings.

International economic law is a field of public international law that regulates crossborder transactions in goods, services, and capital, as well as monetary relations between states. This chapter focuses on the branches of international economic law that govern international trade, international investment, and international monetary law. It sets out the historical background, fundamental rules, and dispute settlement systems in the areas of international trade law and international investment law, and it concludes by introducing international monetary law. International trade and international investment law share some fundamental principles, such as non-discrimination, although most favored nation treatment and national treatment take somewhat different forms in the two bodies of law. This chapter covers the Bretton Woods institutions, namely the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as the World Trade Organization (WTO).

This chapter explores international law relating to the protection of the environment, a relatively new field of international law that covers a broad range of concerns. The pollution of the oceans and the seas, the extinction of animal species, deforestation, and climate change: these are all concerns addressed by international environmental law. This chapter begins by providing a brief overview of the evolution of international environmental law and explains the principal characteristics of this field of international law. It further considers the interrelationship with the concept of sustainable development, which is central to modern approaches toward protecting the environment. It then explores two of the principal concerns addressed by international environmental law: first, the conservation of flora and fauna; and, second, the prevention of pollution and related environmental harm. Furthermore, the chapter discusses compliance and enforcement mechanisms. Lastly, because environmental protection measures often have implications for international trade, it briefly deals with the interrelationship between international environmental law and trade law.

The law of neutrality introduces a concomitant set of rights and obligations between belligerents and neutrals. The law as it has settled at the turn of the twentieth century has remained the same in relation to its basic principles, and it has easily adapted to the evolution of the law of the sea, globalized trade and arms technology. The intrusiveness of belligerent practice in the form of exclusion zones, navicerts and distance blockade has become part of the law provided that it does not deviate from the humanitarian law of armed conflict. Moreover, the four Geneva Conventions and the First Additional Protocol admit a humanitarian role for neutral States.