Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses whether internal and inter-instance unity of law can be constructed from the plurality of instances of law. It also discusses the design choices in international institutions that mirror the discontent among states with liberal institutionalist governance. The book argues that the expansion and increased institutionalisation of international law have created the structural premise for a ‘darker’ side of transnational law. It explains the possibility of achieving legal unity despite undeniable plurality. The book draws attention to how European Union laws and policies become ine vitably distorted as they pass between legal spaces which are shaped by different scales of regulation. It analyses the norms of solidarity and harmony as common endeavours on the transnational regulatory level, while discussing the strategies of populism, propaganda and fiction adopted by central actors in spreading these norms across borders.