Call for Papers: Authority in International Law: New and Traditional Forms and Approaches

A call for papers has been issued for the Third Annual ASIL–ESIL–MPIL Workshop on International Legal Theory, which will take place September 8, 2014, in Vienna, following the ESIL Tenth Anniversary Conference. The theme is "Authority in International Law: New and Traditional Forms and Approaches." Here's the call:

Authority in International Law:

New and Traditional Forms and Approaches

Call for Papers

On Monday, 8 September 2014 (after the ESIL Tenth Anniversary Conference), the Institute for European and International Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business will host the Third Annual ASIL–ESIL–MPIL Workshop on International Legal Theory. This workshop series is a collaboration between the Interest Groups on International Legal Theory of the American and European Societies of International Law and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law, Heidelberg. The principal aim of this collaboration is to facilitate frank discussion among legal scholars from diverse backgrounds and perspectives on the fundamental theoretical questions that confront the discipline today.

This year’s workshop invites scholars to reflect on the foundations of authority in the international sphere. The authority of law is a perennial question of jurisprudence. However, scholarship of international law and relations has developed new approaches and theories for this question, as the world of the twenty-first century is increasingly perceived as more interconnected and less state-centric. Thus, it is argued, it poses different challenges than the ‘classic’ Westphalian framework. International law generation, interpretation and enforcement have become increasingly complex and informal in a world of international regulatory bodies, international courts, and private standard-setting regimes. Some scholars have turned to instrumentalist or empiricist models to explain where authority actually lies. Others argue that we should foreground ‘legitimacy’, rather than worry about description and categorisation.

While the traditional discussion of ‘authority’ is focussed on the theoretical foundation for the models proposed, many of the new approaches are not. Some make do with a description of their model without entering into sustained analysis of its jurisprudential foundations. We invite contributions addressing – constructively or critically – the basis for new and traditional forms and approaches to inter/transnational authority.

Possible areas of research may include, but are not limited to:

• Traditional questions: where does international law get its authority from, why should we obey it?
• New approaches to governance, authority or publicness, e.g. Global Administrative Law, constitutionalism, International Public Authority, pluralism.
• New approaches to the authority and legitimacy of international law, e.g. impact-based approaches, constructivism.
• The relation of authority to phenomena of domination and hegemony in the international realm: Does authority intensify, disguise, or alleviate pathologic power-structures?

Selection Procedure and Workshop Organisation

Interested participants should submit an abstract (800 words max.) summarising the ideas they propose to develop for presentation at the workshop. Submissions of all proposals that engage the workshop’s theme are encouraged. Papers that have been accepted for publication prior to the workshop are in principle eligible for consideration, provided that they will not appear in print before the workshop. Papers will be chosen for presentation by peer review, taking into account not only the need for a balance of topics and viewpoints, but also for geographic diversity among the participants. Although discussants will be assigned to introduce the papers at the workshop, all par-ticipants will be expected to read all of the contributions in advance and come prepared to contribute to the discussion. The organisers hope that the event will serve as a showcase for innovative research on international legal theory, while at the same time strengthening personal and professional ties between scholars on either side of the Atlantic and beyond.

• Abstract submissions should be sent to asil.esil.mpil@gmail.com by 22 June 2014.
• Successful applicants will be notified by 7 July 2014.
• Short papers (5000 words max.) must be delivered by 25 August 2014.

Travel and accommodation costs will in all likelihood have to be borne by participants. Nonetheless, if funding cannot be obtained from other sources, applicants should indi-cate as part of their submission whether they will require financial assistance to cover the costs of travel and accommodation for the event, as a limited number of participants may be able to receive financial assistance.

Questions regarding the workshop may be directed to:

Evan Criddle ejcriddle@wm.edu

Jörg Kammerhofer joerg.kammerhofer@jura.uni-freiburg.de

Alexandra Kemmerer kemmerer@mpil.de