Leading scholars show how the study of international practices can provide effective new tools in understanding its multifaceted nature.

Part I. Practices in International Relations and Social Theory: 1. International practices: introduction and framework Emanuel Adler and Vincent Pouliot; 2. Making sense of 'international practices' Friedrich Kratochwil; Part II. Practices and Their Background: 3. A practice theory of emotion in international relations Janice Bially Mattern; 4. Background knowledge in the foreground: conversations about competent practice in 'sacred space' Janice Stein; 5. Interactional international law and the practice of legality Jutta Brunnée and Stephen Toope; Part III. The Evolution of Practices: 6. The practice of deterrence Patrick Morgan; 7. Britain's response to the Spanish Civil War: investigating the implications of foregrounding practice for English school thinking Richard Little; 8. Domestic practices and balancing: integrating practice into neoclassical realism Norrin Ripsman; Part IV. Practices in Practice: 9. Banking on power: how some practices in an international organization anchor others Ole Jacob Sending and Iver Neumann; 10. The practice of political manipulation Erik Voeten; 11. Performing practices: a poststructuralist analysis of the Muhammad cartoon crisis Lene Hansen; 12. Privatisation in practice: power and capital in the field of global security Rita Abrahamsen and Michael Williams; Part V. Conclusion: 13. Practices of theory Raymond Duvall and Arjun Chowdhury.