Hard Choices, Soft Law: Voluntary Standards in Global Trade, Environment and Social Governance, John J. Kirton and Michael Trebilcock, eds., Global Environmental Governance Series; Aldergate: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004, pp. xviii, 372.

This book sheds considerable light on the new forms of “soft law” governance (voluntary standards and informal institutions) that are emerging out of the confluence of rationally calculated interests, intersubjectively shared norms, and entrenched structures of power in the global economy. It benefits greatly from the analytical framework and meticulous exposition provided by the editors, John Kirton and Michael Trebilcock, whose introductory chapter repays close reading. The remaining chapters of the book are grouped in four sections.