Conference: International Law and the Periphery

Later this week, February 17-19, the Law Department of the American University in Cairo and Sydney Law School will host a conference on "International Law and the Periphery," in Cairo. (I noted the call for papers here.) The program is here. Here's the idea:

One year on from the “Arab Spring”, join us in Cairo to explore contemporary geographies of international law. You are invited to reflect anew upon the “cores” and “peripheries” of international legal knowledge and practice in the face of recent structural shifts. Where (if anywhere) are they located today? Does international law project a disciplinary periphery, or several? Who or what occupies international legal peripheries today and what does peripheral status imply? What may be at stake in the mapping of cores and peripheries? Are there cores in the peripheral and vice versa? To what extent, if at all, do core-periphery dynamics in international law channel development and reform? Long associated with dependency theory, world systems theory and geographical analyses of trade, core-periphery schematics have nonetheless informed international legal thought, argument and policy-making in a wide range of ways. This conference will enable scholars of law and related disciplines to revisit core-periphery dynamics in global governance, in both their symbolic and their material dimensions, and contribute to their re-imagining for the current age.