Acknowledgments

This book began during my postdoctoral fellowship at PluriCourts – the Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order at the University of Oslo. I was fortunate to be a part of the wonderful intellectual community of friends that was PluriCourts, and I am indebted to all who were a part of that community. First and foremost, without the support of Andreas Føllesdal and Geir Ulfstein, this book would never have come to fruition. Andreas and Geir believed in me from day one, provided me with the resources to make this book happen, and offered countless words of encouragement and feedback. I am also grateful for advice, support, and feedback from Daniel Naurin, Øyvind Stiansen, Taylor St John, Tarald Berge, Ole Kristian Fauchald, Laura Létourneau-Tremblay, Cecilia Bailliet, Siri Gloppen, Matthew Saul, Christina Voigt, Alain Zysset, Antoinette Scherz, Malcolm Langford, Runar Lie, Nicola Strain, and Tom Pavone. I also thank the advisory board at PluriCourts, including Beth Simmons, Tom Ginsburg, and Andreas Paulus, all of whom provided feedback and words of encouragement. Silje Langvatn has not only been a wonderful friend to me, but she taught me so much about legitimacy and challenged my thinking in so many ways – thank you! To Daniel Behn, I wish I could thank you in person, share the final product with you and then we could argue about it.

I have also had the fortune of receiving feedback and support from friends and colleagues in London. Carmen Pavel generously organized a book workshop for me at King’s College London, in addition to offering constructive feedback and encouragement. At this workshop, I benefited from critical yet generous comments from Ian Higham, Peter Brett, Chris Hanretty, Octavio Ferraz, Derek O’Brien, and James Scott. I owe huge thanks to each of these individuals for their time, comments, and careful reading of the manuscript. I also thank participants at the 2022 LSE workshop on International Public Policy for their constructive comments, including Mathias Koenig-Archibugi, Mette Eilstrup Sangiovanni, Michael Lerner, Dan Berliner, Thomas Bernauer, Christel Koop, Robert Basedow, and Jason Sharman. Thanks are also due to participants at a workshop of the Empirical Network on Law and Judicial Politics at UCL, especially Michal Ovadek, Veronika Fifak, and Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos.

I am grateful to iCourts at the University of Copenhagen for supporting my visit during the winter of 2023. I was warmly welcomed and enjoyed my stay enormously. This project was at a critical point during my visit. I received excellent and very useful comments from many at iCourts, but I owe special thanks to Michael Rask Madsen, Salome Addo Ravn, Zusanna Godzimirska, and Shai Dothan.

I have had the opportunity to present various parts of the book at several conferences, workshops, and seminars, including at the Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe in Berlin/Potsdam on The International Rule of Law – Rise or Decline?, the University of Geneva, Technical University of Munich, the ECPR law and courts section, ISA, and IPSA. I am especially grateful for comments from Andrea Liese, Nina Reiners, Dana Burchardt, Philipp Schroeder, Arthur Dyevre, Sean Richmond, Jonas Tallberg, Mackenzie Eason, Mark Pollack, Simone Dietrich, Tim Büthe, Frans Viljoen, and Wayne Sandholtz. Along the way, I have received invaluable comments from so many people, some of whom I unfortunately fail to mention here. To all, I thank you! I also thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback. Also, several people deserve thanks for their research assistance, including Eirik Torsvoll, Annette Hovdal, Max Usynin, and AJ Davies.

I owe gratitude to several colleagues and friends who have shown me patience, taught me much, and given me encouragement. For this, I especially thank Jonas Tallberg, Thomas Sommerer, Birte Gippert, Ana Maria Daza Vargas, Katerina Dalacoura, and Sinja Graf. To Marie-Therese Gustafsson, thank you for your endless support and laughter. Last, but not least, I thank my family for keeping me grounded and giving me strength to persevere.