Emanuel Adler is the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair of Israeli Studies in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and editor of International Organization. Professor Adler also currently holds an honorary Professorship at the University of Copenhagen and is a member of the European Academy of Sciences. Vincent Pouliot is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill University and Associate Director of the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS). His research interests lie at the intersection of practice theory and the global governance of international security.

'This conceptually innovative and empirically comprehensive collection focuses our attention on the 'practice' of international politics. This is an analytical category that promises both productive engagements across the various subfields of international relations theory, and new ways of thinking about empirical research. It should find a broad and receptive audience.' Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr Professor of International Studies, Cornell University

• 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.