Call for Papers: Law's Violence

A call for papers has been issued for the section on "Law's Violence" at the 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations. Here's the call:

Law's Violence

chairs: Tanja Aalberts (Centre for the Politics of Transnational Law, t.e.aalberts@vu.nl) and Nikolas Rajkovic (University of Kent, nikolas.rajkovic@eui.eu)

Wednesday 23 – Saturday 26 September 2015

Giardini Naxos, Sicily, Italy

Justifying political decisions in legal terms has become an integral part of foreign policy, and even a ‘key aspect of modern war’ according to the former US deputy Advocate General. This realization of the 'power of law' at the same time reveals that international law is not immune to the evolving nature of international politics. Law's relationship to power, wealth and violence is more nuanced, complex and subversive than traditional perspectives on the normative thickening of international society envisage. This cross-disciplinary section of 5 panels will explore the various ways in which law not merely enables violence but even represents an instrument of violence itself. This runs from debates about the legal justification of military humanitarian intervention, Guantanamo Bay as a distinct juridical space, the role of lawyers in contemporary war rooms, the increasing “private” power of Foreign Investment and Trade Treaties, the colonial foundations of modern international law, to a reconceptualization of rights as governmental technologies, and more theoretical debates on the force of law by scholars such as Derrida, Foucault, Benjamin and Schmitt.

The Section Chairs are delighted to invite paper, panel, and roundtable proposals for submission. Deadline: 15 January 2015

Further information on the section and submission procedure is here.