7th AsianSIL Biennial Conference
22 to 23 August 2019 (Quezon City, Philippines)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Theme of the Conference: Rethinking International Law: Finding Common Solutions to Contemporary Civilizational Issues from an Asian Perspective
Undeniably, the Asian region now plays a bigger role in the shaping of international law, as it continues to grow in economic, cultural and political importance. With more than half of the world’s population living in the region – not to mention that it plays host to ten of the largest nations on earth – Asian economies push the demands of development into unchartered territory in the so-called Asian century with a dynamism all their own.
And yet the past is always relevant to our common future/s. While international law may have had a murky beginning in Asia – closely intertwined as it has been with the colonial project – there is no question that Asian societies have embraced it, even for purposes distinct and separate from its original impulses. As a platform for cooperation in many areas, it has proven its usefulness, the contentious aspects notwithstanding.
Contemporary developments in international relations, shifts in global, regional and national politics, as well as large-scale environmental and economic issues, now compel a reexamination of the foundational roots of international law, especially as these raise civilizational issues.
For example, the horrific spectre raised by a new breed of radical terrorists has raised a common issue to humanity and challenges exceptionalist notions of culture-based norms and rights on what it means to be human and to be a rights-bearer.
East and West, North and South, the question of human dignity has become front and center in the raging debate on the meaning and continuing relevance of human rights; this in fact, should take us back to the discussions on the ontological or civilizational sources from which the drafters of the UN Charter drew in their difficult and gargantuan work. To be sure, Asia has its own smoldering human rights and humanitarian hotspots, which further complicate the direction of development its varied societies want to harness for their future.
And what of the UN in relation to Asia, the most diverse of regions in the world? As a leading, if dominant feature of the international legal order, the UN and the different corollary international legal institutions it has spawned have demonstrated both vertical and horizontal features that have a bearing on an Asian embrace of international law.
In the global issue of environmental degradation – on many levels a real civilizational threat – Asia has moved forward, with China choosing to work with the European Union in implementing the Paris Protocol in the face of American retreat. And environmental problems are no abstract problem in many Asian societies.
The hegemony of Western-style business and investments also now finds stiff competition in Chinese-led international banking and investments, and the new Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China continues to make inroads in areas traditionally occupied by state sovereignty and extant regional economic arrangements.
Uncertainties in the contemporary times may mean disabling perplexities. But it may also be embraced as a necessary search for common solutions to the common problems faced by diverse cultures and societies, by way of rethinking what international law had stood for from the beginning and how it may be made relevant to contemporary challenges.
Key Topics of Discussion for Parallel Sessions
We encourage participants to submit papers on the following and related topics (the list below is merely suggested and is by no means exhaustive):
- Commemorative Special Panel for the late Justice Florentino P. Feliciano: The Spirit of International Law Scholarship and Judicial Theory
- The History and Theory of International Law: Whose History? Whose Theory? Whose International Law? What Have We So Far (un)Learned?
- International Law and International Relations: Convergences and Divergences
- Re-Thinking Foundational Issues in International Law: Comparative Regional Approaches
- International Legal Norm Entrepreneurship: Asian Perspectives, Perplexities and Possibilities
- Comparative Approaches to International Law: Asian and other Regions
- The UN and International Law: Promises and Perils from an Asian Perspective
- The International Court of Justice: Asian Contributions and Challenges
- The Future/s of International Tribunals from the Asian Perspective
- International Criminal Law: Asian Challenges and Trajectories
- International Law and Domestic Courts in Asia
- New Developments in Private International Law in Asia
- International Law Aspects of Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Asia
- ASEAN Integration and International Law
- Challenges to Women and Gender in International Law
- Mixed Marriages, Adoption and Surrogacy: Cross-Border Issues in Family Law
- International Human Rights Mechanisms in Asia: Rethinking Models and Realities
- Rethinking the Foundations of Human Rights: Conversations from Asian and Regional Perspectives
- Enforcing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Asian Lessons
- International Trade Law and Human Rights
- Migrant Workers and Human Rights in Asia
- Corporations and Human Rights in Asia
- Cyber-Warfare and International Humanitarian law
- Digital Transactions and Realities: Intersections with International law
- Emerging Issues in Law on Armed Conflict and Terrorism in Asia
- Refugee Law in Asia: In Search of Common and Uncommon Solutions
- The International Law of Development: Asian Challenges
- Regional Cooperation in Asia and International Law
- The WTO and Asia: Contributions and Challenges
- International Investment Law: The State of the Art in Asia
- International Arbitration and Investment Protection in Asia: Contributions to International Law and the Rule of Law
- The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): Challenges for Sovereignty and International Law
- Global Commons and Values in Oceans: Asian Realities and Regional Approaches
- Emerging Maritime Regulation and Security Issues in Asia and International Law
- Beyond the South China Sea Arbitral Ruling: Gaps and Gray Areas in the Law of the Sea from Asian Needs and Perspectives
- Trans-boundary and other Environmental Harms and International Law in Asia
- International Environmental Law: Intersections with the Paris Accord and Trans-Pacific Partnership Regimes
Interested scholars will be required to provide the following:
- An abstract of between 300 and 500 words on the proposed paper on or before midnight of 30 November 2018 (Manila Time). Please clearly identify the title of your paper and the session category. Abstracts must be submitted to asiansilmanila2019@gmail.com.
- Affiliation details and brief biography. This includes professional status, educational background, institutional affiliation, contact number and e-mail address. Please provide also any information about your publications and any other relevant information on your research or experience.
- Your affiliation to the Asian Society of International Law. Preference will be given to existing members of the Asian Society of International Law in the selection process.
- Successful applicants will be informed by email on or before midnight of 31 January 2019 (Manila Time). They are required to submit their full paper to the AsianSIL 7th Biennial Conference Academic Sub-Committee on or before midnight of 30 April 2019 (Manila Time). The submitted papers should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words, not including the footnotes.
Interested parties working on a common issue or topic may also propose their own panel to the AsianSIL Manila Conference 2019 Academic Sub-Committee, under conditions described below.
Those who wish to propose a special panel for a common topic or issue should submit a common proposal for such panel, stating the following details:
- The proposed topic or issue for the panel;
- The panel participants and their respective affiliations (minimum of three members; maximum of four members);
- Their respective paper titles and abstracts of no more than 500 words each;
- Their contact details – contact numbers and email addresses.
In addition, the common proposal should be emailed along with the abstract, biography and affiliation requirements to the contact details above. The same deadlines and dates apply to panel proposals.
New Voices in International Law: The Junior Scholars’ Conference
There will also be a Junior Scholars’ Conference that will convene one day before the Biennial Conference, on 21 August 2019. This one-day conference encourages junior academics (untenured or within the first three years of a tenure track appointment), academic fellows (in pre-tenure track fellowships), post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students, to submit papers on the topics listed, or are related to what are listed, above.
The Junior Scholars’ Conference Application Procedure
Junior academics interested in participating in the Conference should submit the abstract, biography and affiliation submission requirements stated above to jsc.asiansilmanila2019@gmail.com. The same dates and deadlines as in the main conference apply to the Junior Scholars’ Conference.
Interested junior scholars working on a common issue or topic may also propose their own panel, under conditions described below.
Those who wish to propose a special panel for a common topic or issue should submit a common proposal for such panel, stating the following details:
- The proposed topic or issue for the panel;
- The panel participants and their respective affiliations (minimum of three members; maximum of four members);
- Their respective paper titles and abstracts of no more than 500 words each;
- Their contact details – contact numbers and email addresses.
In addition, the common proposal should be emailed along with the abstract, biography and affiliation requirements to the contact details provided for the Junior Scholars’ Conference.
Successful applicants to the Junior Scholars’ Conference will be informed by email on or before midnight of 31 January 2019 (Manila Time). They are required to submit their full paper to the AsianSIL 7th Biennial Conference Academic Committee on or before midnight of 30 April 2019 (Manila Time). The submitted papers should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words, not including the footnotes.
Enquiries about the paper selection process, the Junior Scholars’ Conference and the 7th AsianSIL Biennial Conference may be addressed to: asiansilmanila2019@gmail.com.
