An excerpt from  The Perils of Global Legalism  Eric A. Posner
What is Global Legalism?  Global legalists believe that a world
government is not possible in the foreseeable future, but that
international law, without a world government, can nonetheless
solve or greatly ameliorate global collective action problems.
International law, normally thought to be an object of
government interest, becomes a subject: it develops, it expands,
it constrains. And it develops in a certain way, enveloping
states within its embrace, compelling them to act outside their
interests, pushing them to greater and greater levels of
cooperation, and hence to solving the global collective action
problems.  Global legalism is not a doctrine or theory. It is
akin to an attitude or posture—a set of beliefs about how the
world works, one that, in various forms, dominates the thinking
of academic international lawyers, as well as practicing
international lawyers and some government officials. Global
legalism has popular appeal and it aff