This major extension of existing scholarship on the fragmentation of
international law utilises the concept of ‘regimes’ from international
law and international relations literature to define functional areas of
legal specialisation and institutional activity. Responding to prevailing
approaches, which focus on the resolution of conflicting norms between
regimes, it explores the way in which norms and institutions from disparate
regimes overlap and interact. Leading scholars reflect on how, in situations
of legal pluralism and concurrent activity, such interaction shapes
and controls knowledge and norms at the domestic, transnational and
international level, in often hegemonic ways. The contributors draw on
topical examples of interacting regimes, including climate, trade, intellectual
property and investment regimes, to argue for new methods and
understanding of regime interaction. Together, the essays combine historical,
doctrinal, critical and sociological forms of legal analysis to provide
important insights into an issue that continues to challenge international
legal theory and practice.