Rational Choice, Reputation, and
Human Rights Treaties
How International Law Works: A Rational Choice Theory. By Andrew T. Guzman. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 2007. Pp. vi, 247. $35.
Scholars have long considered the linked questions of whether and why states obey international law. Contemporary contributions to this inquiry include schools of thought that aver the bearing of transnational legal process on state socialization, the impact of acculturation on state behavior, the sway of a state’s desire to be held in esteem by other international actors, and the influence of a given state’s belief in the rule of law. Common to each of these approaches is the notion that external norms have some effect on state action.
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