Chubb, Andrew (2024) Book Review - China's Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order, by Isaac Kardon. The Journal of Military History, 88 (2). pp. 603-605.
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Abstract
In summary, Beijing’s preferences might be more and less rule-oriented across different areas, but the book stands as the authoritative work on this hugely consequential subject. Kardon’s empirical focus on practices ensures the text remains readable throughout, linking legal arguments with many dramatic incidents around China’s maritime periphery in recent decades, and the emerging patterns of PRC behavior in the region and around the world. It also advances a compelling critique of the international relations field’s conventional debates over the role of international law as a source (or not) of cooperation and compliance. Each of the book’s empirical chapters demonstrate in vivid detail how the role of international law is not simply a question of compliance or non-compliance, but an arena of fierce contestation and a potential source of conflictual state behavior.