Call for Papers: International Courts and National Courts, Politics and Society

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "International Courts and National Courts, Politics and Society," to take place September 11-12, 2014, in Copenhagen. Here's the call:

International courts and national courts, politics and society

Conference in Copenhagen September 11-12 2014

Since the establishment of the first permanent international court in 1922, states have created more than 25 international judicial bodies. The trend toward international judicialization has accelerated after the end of the Cold War. States have established a cascade of international courts and tribunals, the mandates of which go well beyond peace and arbitration to cover issues as diverse as human rights, international criminal law, trade and investment. And new courts are being called for in issue-areas where they do not yet exist, such as the regulation of climate change or transnational corporate wrongdoing. Moreover, in some areas, courts have arguably managed to expand their authority beyond their original mandates, and engage not only in adjudicating, interpreting and monitoring international treaty compliance, but increasingly contribute to the making of international law.

This development suggests a number of challenging research puzzles, especially as international courts impact on domestic political orders. For instance, how do governments, parliaments, national courts, bureaucracies and other sub-state actors and institutions interact with the new authority of international courts? Under which conditions do they become effective nationally? And why have states decided to establish these international courts in the first place? Moreover, how do domestic agents resist, adapt to, or utilize international judicial institutions? How does this new and expanding international judiciary impact on established national constitutional democratic orders? And what role do international courts play in sustaining and developing the global order - and how does this role affect politics and society at large?

For this conference, we invite both political science, sociology and law papers that address both the impact of international judicial institutions on domestic legal and political orders that is the general trend toward international juridicialization and the domestic politics conditions under which states choose to adopt international case law, conventions and judicial institutions. We welcome papers aimed at empirical explanation or theoretical assessment, and particularly papers that have a comparative perspective. Whereas previous research on the domestic impact of international courts and conventions has so far primarily focused on autocracies, we are particularly interested in 'rule of law' countries as these must be expected to have fewer problems adopting international case law and conventions into their national legal order. Or do they? Very little research has in fact been asking and investigating this question.

Organizers: Johan Karlsson Schaffer, Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo & PluriCourts; Marlene Wind, Professor of Political Science and Centre Director for Centre for European Politics at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen. She is also member of the leadership team and project coordinator at iCourts – Centre of Excellence for International Courts at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen) and Professor II at Oslo University with PluriCourts.

Please submit your paper proposal to: Zuzanna.Godzimirska@jur.ku.dk or Kristoffer.schaldemose@gmail.com by first of March 2014 at the latest.

ICourts may be able to help with accommodation if your abstract is accepted. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.