The book seeks to demonstrate how rules not only guide a variety of practices within international politics but also contribute to the chaos and tension on the part of agents in light of the structures they sustain.

1. Rules and International Security: Dilemmas of a New World Order Anthony F. Lang, Jr. Part I: Rules and Practices 2. Rules for Torture? Nicholas Onuf 3. Contextualizing Torture: Rules and Conventions in the Roman Digest Jill Harries 4. Is Torture ever Justified? Torture, Rights and Rules from Northern Ireland to Iraq Caroline Kennedy-Pipe and Andre Mumford Part II: Rules and Legitimacy 5. Cannon, not Canon: The Dynamics of ad bellum Rule Change Janne Haaland Matlary 6. Preventive War 'à l'américaine': In the Fog of Norms Ariel Colonomos Part III: Rules and Regulation 7. Technology Change, Rule Change and the Law of Armed Conflict Michael E. Smith 8. Rules and the Evolution of International Nuclear Order William Walker Part IV: Rules and Responsibility 9. International Rules, Custom, and the Crime of Aggression Larry May 10. Truth Commissions and Rules: Justice and Peace Mario I. Aguilar Part V: Questioning Rules 11. Absolute Ends and Dynamic Rules: Being Political as Human Beings Amanda Russell Beattie 12. Intra Arma, Silent Leges? The Political Community, Supreme Emergency and the Rules of War Nicholas Rengger