Realizing Utopia is a collection of essays by a group of innovative international jurists. Its contributors reflect on some of the major legal problems facing the international community and analyse the inconsistencies or inadequacies of current law. They highlight the elements - even if minor, hidden, or emerging - that are likely to lead to future changes or improvements. Finally, they suggest how these elements can be developed, enhanced, and brought to fruition in the next two or three decades, with a view to achieving an improved architecture of world society or, at a minimum, to reshaping some major aspects of international dealings. Contributions to the book thus try to discern the potential, in the present legal construct of world society, that might one day be brought to light in a better world.

As the impact of international law on national legal orders continues to increase, this volume takes stock of how far international law has come and how it should continue to develop. The work features an impressive list of contributors, including many of the leading authorities on international law and several judges of the International Court of Justice.