Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. i.IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE DEED p.1 -- Probl�ematique, p.2 -- Agenda, p.10 -- Programme, p.14 -- II. THE PRACTICE OF INTERPRETATION: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE p.16 -- A. Lawmaking in communicative practice, p.18 -- 1. On the sources of international law, p.19 - 2. Sovereignry, sources, and semantic change, p.27 -- 3. From sources to communicative practice, p.29 -- B. Semantic struggles in the practice of legal imerpretation, p.37 -- 1. Practice berweer� ageney and strucrure, p.38 -- 2. On the form and substance of legal interpretation, p.46 -- 3. Power and authority in semantic struggles, p.57 -- C. Actors in the practice of interpretation, p.64 -- 1. Private norm entrepreneurs, p.65 -- 2. The disaggregated state, p.67 -- 3. International institutions: Bureaucracies and judicial bodies, p.69 -- III. UNHCR AND THE MAKING OF REFUGEE LAW p.72 -- A. International bureaucracies as actors in legal discourse, p.76 -- 1. Delegation from principals to agents, p.77 -- 2. The authority of international bureaucracies, p.82 -- B. The expansion of UNHCR's Statute, p.87 -- 1. Expectations and concerns, p.90 -- 2. International protection and humble beginnings, p.95 -- 3. Material assistance, good offices, and displaced persons, p.98 -- 4. Humanitarian aid and voluntary repatriation, p.104 -- C. UNHCR and the meaning of the Convention, p.109 -- 1. UNHCR's role in developing the Convention, p.110 -- 2. Semantic change at work: Shifting elements in the meaning of 'refugee', p.122 -- D. Conclusions: Change and contexts, p.130

IV. ADJUDICATION IN THE GATT/WTO: MAKING GENERAL EXCEPTIONS IN TRADE LAW p.135 -- A. International adjudicators as actors in legal discourse, p.139 -- 1. Historiography: Longing for international adjudication, p.140 -- 2. Judicial decisions and precedents, p.144 -- 3. The GATT/WTO context, p.147 -- B. Article XX in the era of the GATT, p.150 -- 1. General exceptions: A general prologue, p.150 -- 2. The creation of a high threshold, p.157 -- 3. A territoriallimitation?, p.163 -- C. Artide XX in the era of the wro, p.167 -- 1. Institutional changes and the working of precedents, p.167 -- 2. A new beginning with the Appellate Body, p.172 -- 3. Proportionality, interpretation, and legitimacy, p.180 -- D. Conclusions: Adjudication, precedents, and legitimacy, p.190 -- V. CREATIVE INTERPRETATIONS: NORMATIVE TWISTS p.196 -- A. The bittersweet taste of justice in legal discourse, p.198 -- 1. Narratives of progress and advents of justice, p.200 -- 2. Scepticism and realism, p.207 -- 3. The practice of inrerpretation and communicative action, p.214 -- B. The centrality of law: Dissonances and developments in legal dowine, p.223 -- 1. The appeal and futiliry of soft law, p.225 -- 2. Intertemporal law and subsequent practice: shortening the leash?, p.230 -- 3. Global administrarive law and international public authotiry, p.240 -- C. Evasive foundations: Semantic authority in a normative pluriverse, p.245 -- 1. Principles of democracy and ultimate authority, p.248 -- 2. Architectural renovation and institutional design, p.252 -- 3. Attitudes and interpretarion at critical junctures, p.256 -- VI. EPILOGUE: IN THE END THERE IS ETERNITY p.262.