In the spring of 2010 the late Antonio Cassese requested me to contribute an essay in a volume he was planning on “Realistic Utopias”. I knew that Nino was a great believer in the idea of the “international community” and appreciated his willingness to engage me in a discussion of something he knew I had little faith in.

The essay (see  here) examines some of the changes in my own thinking about the politics of engaging in international law since the original publication of the article (see here) that opened the first issue of EJIL in 1990. The essay points to the change of focus from indeterminacy (to which I am as committed as ever) of…