ABSTRACT
As the title of this volume as well as its individual contributions aptly point out, contemporary international relations are characterized by a bewildering multiplicity of legal and ‘law-like’ arrangements. Traditional forms of inter-state international and supranational law coexist with less formal, ‘quasi-legal’ regimes, the ‘soft’ law formed by the customs of international society, and regulatory activities of various international governmental and nongovernmental organizations. In addition, a broad trend in recent research in International Relations and International Law alike has pointed out that international legalization increasingly also takes the form of a closer cooperation and exchange between and a mutual recognition of relevant national legal institutions, particularly courts. Even the seemingly simple issue of counting and mapping the different forms of law and law-like arrangements in international relations today presents an almost impossible task, prone to get stuck in the quagmire of this new-found international legal plurality.
