Jean: L'état de droit international : Voyage dans les méandres d'un concept juridique troublant

Moïse Jean has published L'état de droit international : Voyage dans les méandres d'un concept juridique troublant (Schulthess Verlag 2026). Here's the abstract:

Depuis près d’une trentaine d’années, l’état de droit occupe une place centrale dans le discours international et s’est progressivement imposé comme un modèle de référence, un point de ralliement. Mais que signifie exactement ce concept ? S’agit-il d’une obligation juridique internationale, d’un principe général du droit, ou d’un simple idéal politique ? Quel est son statut et est-il compatible avec les structures actuelles de la société internationale ?

Cet ouvrage met en évidence le décalage profond entre les proclamations solennelles entourant l’état de droit et sa réalité juridique concrète. Il montre que cette notion est encore dépourvue de définition autonome, précise et partagée, se situant aujourd’hui à mi-chemin entre projet politique et concrétisation juridique.

Dans ces conditions, parler de « respect » ou de « violation » de l’état de droit en droit international apparaît largement inapproprié. Faute de contenu normatif stabilisé, la notion tend en pratique à se confondre avec l’exigence générale de respect du droit international existant. Tout en étant encore un projet inachevé, l’état de droit est néanmoins une idée-force mobilisatrice.

L’ouvrage souligne également la tension persistante entre les exigences qu’impliquerait l’avènement d’un véritable état de droit international et la structure actuelle de la société internationale. À défaut d’une refonte profonde de l’architecture du droit international, l’état de droit demeure un horizon normatif, encore largement utopique à l’échelle universelle.

Akinkugbe: The Challenge to the Rule of Law and Democracy in Contemporary West and Central Africa

Olabisi D. Akinkugbe (Dalhousie Univ. - Law) has posted The Challenge to the Rule of Law and Democracy in Contemporary West and Central Africa (in The Rule of Law under Pressure: The Enmeshment of International and National Trends, Gregory Shaffer & Wayne Sandholtz eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

After a moment that was characterized by a flurry of constitutional reforms and elections, coups have returned in some states in Western, Central and Sahel regions in Africa. The rule of law and democratic governance have come under significant stress. A confluence of events – colonial legacies, uprisings, regional conflicts, term elongation, challenges to the dynastic style of leadership, and the rising incidence of coups – challenge the entrenchment of the rule of law in contemporary Africa. Focusing on period between 2020 and 2023, the chapter asks: Against the background of recent coups, how should we analyze the rule of law in contemporary Africa? Is the decline of the rule of law and democratic governance in sub-Saharan Africa as a region overstated, given that the coups are concentrated in Francophone West Africa and the Sahel region? How should we think of the role of geopolitical contestations and colonial linkages in unsettling democratic regimes and eroding the rule of law in Africa?

Special Issue: Rule of Law from Below

The current issue of the Utrecht Law Review (Vol. 17, no. 2, 2021) focuses on "Rule of Law from Below." It investigates instances where actors beyond formal state institutions, who have no constitutional or other formal legal role, take it upon themselves to uphold and defend the rule of law. Contents include:

• Antoine Buyse, Katharine Fortin, Julie Fraser & Brianne McGonigle Leyh, The Rule of Law from Below - A Concept under Development
• Clara Burbano Herrera & Yves Haeck, The Historical and Present-Day Role of Non-Governmental Organisations before the Inter-American Human Rights System in Documenting Serious Human Rights Violations and Protecting Human Rights and the Rule of Law Through Ensuring Accountability
• Katharine Fortin, Of Interactionality and Legal Universes: A Bottom-Up Approach to the Rule of Law in Armed Group Territory
• Ana Gascón Marcén, The Platform for the Protection of Journalists: A Mechanism for Cooperation between Non-Governmental Organisations and the Council of Europe
• Barbara Grabowska-Moroz & Olga Śniadach, The Role of Civil Society in Protecting Judicial Independence in Times of Rule of Law Backsliding in Poland
• Alexander Gilder, UN Peace Operations and the Role of the Local in (Re)Building the Rule of Law
• Brianne McGonigle Leyh, The Role of Universities and Law Schools in Documenting Serious International Crimes and Advancing the Rule of Law
• Aikaterini Tsampi, The Role of Civil Society in Monitoring the Executive in the Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights: Recasting the Rule of Law

Wohlwend: The International Rule of Law: Scope, Subjects, Requirements

Denise Wohlwend has published The International Rule of Law: Scope, Subjects, Requirements (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021). Here's the abstract:

This insightful book offers an in-depth examination of whether, and if so how and to what degree, contemporary international law can and should conform to and develop the rule of law principle. Motivated by the neglect of conceptual and normative theorizing of the international rule of law within contemporary international legal scholarship, Denise Wohlwend analyses the moral and legal principle of the rule of law in the international legal order. The book draws on the tradition of analytical jurisprudence to explore the possibility and desirability of the international rule of law. Encompassing both international and domestic legal orders, the book advocates for a shift in the way the international rule of law is theorized, endorsing an approach that understands it as beneficial to individuals and as closely related to the domestic rule of law.

Conference: Rule of Law in the Indo-Pacific Region and Beyond

On May 17-19, 2021, the Stockton Center for International Law at the U.S. Naval War College will host online the 3rd Annual Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference. The topic is: "Rule of Law in the Indo-Pacific Region and Beyond" Details are here.

Symposium: International Law & the Rule of Law

The latest issue of the Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law (Vol. 11, no. 1, 2021) contains a symposium on "International Law & the Rule of Law." Contents include:

• Douglass Cassel, The Commission on “Unalienable Rights”: A Critique
• Christina M. Cerna, Provisional Measures: How International Human Rights Law is Changing International Law (Inspired by Gambia v. Myanmar)
• Brad R. Roth, Legitimacy in the International Order: They Continuing Relevance of Sovereign States
• John Mearsheimer & Mary Ellen O’Connell, Symposium Debate Transcript: The Promise of International Law: Realism versus Legalism

Hamid & Wouters: Rule of Law and Areas of Limited Statehood: Domestic and International Dimensions

Linda Hamid (KU Leuven - Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies & Institute for International Law) & Jan Wouters (KU Leuven - Law) have published Rule of Law and Areas of Limited Statehood: Domestic and International Dimensions (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This thought-provoking book addresses the legal questions raised by the nexus between the rule of law and areas of limited statehood, in which the State lacks the ability to exercise the full depth of its governmental authority. Working from an international law perspective, it examines the implications of limited statehood for the traditional State-based framing of the international legal order.

Featuring original contributions written by renowned international scholars, chapters investigate key issues arising at the junction between domestic and international rule of law and areas of limited statehood, as well as the alternative modes of governance that develop therein, both with and without the approval of the State. Contributors discuss the impact of contested sovereignty on the rule of law, international responsibility with regard to rebel governance in areas of limited statehood and the consequences of limited statehood for international peace and security.

Føllesdal: International Human Rights Courts and the (International) Rule of Law: Part of the Solution, Part of the Problem, or Both?

Andreas Føllesdal (Univ. of Oslo - PluriCourts) has posted International Human Rights Courts and the (International) Rule of Law: Part of the Solution, Part of the Problem, or Both? Here's the abstract:

Regional human rights courts (RHRC) are often tasked to promote not only states’ human rights obligations, but also rule of law standards including predictability, legality, and the independence, impartiality and high quality of the judiciary. Critics challenge these international judiciaries for their interference with domestic democratic processes and violation of rule of law standards: these guardians are not themselves well guarded. What are we to make of such complaints? These concerns should not be dismissed too quickly as mere disgruntled venting by populist politicians. At least two arguments for dismissing the concerns are found wanting. One objection of a more theoretical nature holds that it is a category mistake (Ryle 1949) to apply domestic rule of law standards to such international institutions. Against this, the article first grants in section II that there are conflicting conceptions of the rule of law standards. Section III argues that the same values that justify the domestic rule of law standards of impartiality, independence and accountability support similar standards for RHRCs. Their independence from the state parties may indeed render RHRCs unpredictable sources of arbitrary discretion. A second more practical defense against the criticism of IHRCs is that their practices can avoid such dilemmas by showing more deference toward the states. Section IV considers a prime example of such strategies by one of the most likely culprits, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), arguably the most powerful regional human rights court. The ECtHR has developed a doctrine of a ‘margin of appreciation’ which arguably promotes human rights and domestic rule of law, and reduces the risk of domination by state authorities, without imposing new risks to those standards. Section V challenges this claim, to argue that even this doctrine of a margin of appreciation as currently developed by the ECtHR does create new risks of arbitrary discretion, contrary to the rule of law values it is tasked to guard. The critics’ concerns can thus not be ignored, but should spur changes to the doctrine of a margin of appreciation to satisfy the rule of law standards and the value they promote: predictability and protection against arbitrary discretion.

Jorgensen: American Foreign Policy Ideology and the International Rule of Law

Malcolm Jorgensen (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Berlin Potsdam Research Group 'International Law: Rise or Decline?') has published American Foreign Policy Ideology and the International Rule of Law: Contesting Power through the International Criminal Court (Cambridge Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

American engagement with international law has long been framed by commitment to the 'international rule of law', which persists even across divergent political and historical eras. Yet, despite appeals to legal ideals, American international law policy is consistently criticised as fraught with contradiction and distorted by beliefs in 'exceptionalism'. These contested claims of fidelity to law are the subject of this book: what does the 'international rule of law' mean for American legal policymakers even as they advocate competing commitments to international legal order? Answers are found in extensive evidence that American policymakers receive international law through established foreign policy ideologies, which correspond with divisions in both legal scholarship and diplomatic history. Using the case of the International Criminal Court, the book demonstrates that the very meaning of the international rule of law is structured by competing ideological beliefs; between American policymakers and global counterparts, and among American policymakers themselves.

Call for Papers: The Rule of Law from Below

Utrecht University’s Montaigne Centre for the Rule of Law and Administration of Justice, together with the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, have issued a call for papers for a conference on "The Rule of Law from Below," to be held October 29, 2020. The call is here.

Special Issue: Rule of Law Revisited: Applying Law in Russia and Beyond

The latest issue of Review of Central and East European Law (Vol. 44, no. 3, 2019) focuses on "Rule of Law Revisited: Applying Law in Russia and Beyond." Contents include:

• Rule of Law Revisited: Applying Law in Russia and Beyond
• Marianna Muravyeva, Is There Rule of Law in Russia: Revisiting the Concept and Practice
• Jeffrey Kahn, The Rule of Law under Pressure: Russia and the European Human Rights System
• Grigory Vaypan, Good Governance and Property Rights of the State: The Dubovets Case before the European Court of Human Rights and the Russian Constitutional Court
• Sergey Marochkin, National and International Rule of Law: Proclaimed Adherence and Real-Life Policies
• Thomas Kruessmann, Towards a Fresh Engagement in Rule-of-Law Cooperation: Supporting the Compliance Movement in Russia
• Elena Sherstoboeva, Audiovisual Regulation in Russia in the Context of Council of Europe Standards
• Maksim Karliuk, The Disintegration of the Judiciary Within Eurasian Integration

Call for Papers: Constitutional democracy, Rule of Law and the fight against corruption

A call for papers has been issued for the Eighth Forum of the African Union Commission on International Law, to take place December 2-3, 2019. The theme is: “Constitutional democracy, Rule of Law and the fight against corruption.” The call is here (English/Français).

Krieger, Nolte, & Zimmermann: The International Rule of Law: Rise or Decline?

Heike Krieger (Freie Universität Berlin - Law), Georg Nolte (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Law), & Andreas Zimmermann (Universität Potsdam - Law) have published The International Rule of Law: Rise or Decline? (Oxford Univ. Press 2019). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This edited volume examines the role of international law in a changing global order. Can we, under the current significantly changing conditions, still observe an increasing juridification of international relations based on a universal understanding of values? Or are we, to the contrary, facing a tendency towards an informalization or a reformalization of international law, or even an erosion of international legal norms? Would it be appropriate to revisit classical elements of international law in order to react to structural changes, which may give rise to a more polycentric or non-polar world order? Or are we simply observing a slump in the development towards an international rule of law based on a universal understanding of values?

In eleven chapters, distinguished scholars reflect on how to approach these questions from historical, system-oriented and actor-centered perspectives. The contributions engage with the rise of European international law since the 17th century, the decay of the international rule of law, compliance as an indicator for the state of international law, international law and informal law-making in times of populism, the rule of environmental law and complex problems, human rights in Europe in a hostile environment, the influence of the BRICS states on international law, the impact of non-state actors on international law, international law's contribution to global justice, the contestation of value-based norms and the international rule of law in light of legitimacy claims.

Call for Papers: The Rule of Law in Cyberspace

The Interest Group on Peace and Security of the European Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for a workshop on "The Rule of Law in Cyberspace" during the 2019 ESIL Research Forum. Here's the call:

2019 ESIL Research Forum, Göttingen
Interest Group on Peace and Security
Workshop
3 April 2019

Call for Papers: The Rule of Law in Cyberspace

The Interest Group on Peace and Security is organising a workshop on the rule of law in cyberspace during the 2019 ESIL Research Forum. The workshop will take place on Wednesday 3 April 2019.

Cyberspace constitutes a new aterritorial and interconnected domain where individuals, states, businesses and a host of other actors interact and produce effects in cyberspace and/or in the physical world. The legal nature of cyberspace, the possibility of regulation or the nature of such regulation are the subject of debates and contestation. A central question then is whether we can speak of a rule of law in cyberspace and, if so, in which terms and whether national and/or international visions of the rule of law are suitable in cyberspace.

The IGPS invites submissions addressing among others issues such as the place and role of law in cyberspace, jurisdiction, national/international enforcement, human rights, the nature of the rule of law in cyberspace, visions of the rule of law in cyberspace.

Abstracts (of not more than 750 words) should be submitted to Paulina Starski and to Nicholas Tsagourias by 17 November 2018. Please include the following information with your abstract: your name, affiliation, email address, whether you are an ESIL member, plus a one-page curriculum vitae.

Successful applicants will be notified by email by 17 December 2018. Approximately 4-5 submissions will be selected. The selected speakers will receive comments on their paper presentations from the conveners and from other IGPS members. For this reason, we invite members to notify us as to whether they want to act as commentators. The conveners may also invite members or experts to act as commentators.

Complete paper drafts will be required by Monday 4 March 2019. Papers may in due course be published in the ESIL SSRN Conference Paper Series or in a journal. The conveners will make the necessary enquiries.

Selected speakers will be expected to bear the costs of their own travel and accommodation. Some ESIL travel grants will be available to offer partial financial support to speakers who have exhausted other potential sources of funding. Further information on financial support will be distributed to speakers in due course.

For further information on the Research Forum please visit ESIL’s website.

Paulina Starski
Théodore Christakis
Nicholas Tsagourias

Burnay: Chinese Perspectives on the International Rule of Law: Law and Politics in the One-Party State

Matthieu Burnay (Queen Mary Univ. of London - Law) has published Chinese Perspectives on the International Rule of Law: Law and Politics in the One-Party State (Edward Elgar Publishing 2018). Here's the abstract:

Building upon an understanding of the rule of law as an ‘essentially contested concept’, this insightful book investigates the historical, political, and legal foundations of the Chinese perspectives on the rule of law at both a national and international level. In particular, chapters focus on China’s impact on global trade and security governance. These case studies enable conclusions to be drawn regarding China’s more general perspectives on the international rule of law as a concept. Offering a thorough analysis of EU-China relationships, the book highlights the prospects and challenges for a meaningful dialogue on the rule of law and the international rule of law. In doing so, it illustrates the merits of the rule of law as a concept to engage in meaningful dialogues across a myriad of legal and political systems.

Wiener: The Rule of Law in Inter-National Relations: Contestation Despite Diffusion – Diffusion Through Contestation

Antje Wiener (Univ. of Hamburg - Political Science) has posted The Rule of Law in Inter-National Relations: Contestation Despite Diffusion – Diffusion Through Contestation (in Handbook on the Rule of Law, Christopher May & Adam Winchester eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This chapter discusses the rule of law as an example of the interplay between practices of constitution and the contestation of fundamental norms in global governance. Like most fundamental norms (or principles) the rule of law’s universal validity claim is globally well diffused, and at the same time stands highly contested locally. The ‘apparent unanimity in support of the rule of law is a feat unparalleled in history. No other single political ideal has ever achieved global endorsement’. Yet, it is also ‘“an essentially contested concept”, that is, a notion characterised by disagreement that extends to its core’. Dissensus and consensus are two aspects of the same process; they are connected through practices. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the practices of norm validation, which are presented as part of a “cycle-grid model”, so as to facilitate research that takes account of both empirical (mapping) and normative (shaping) dimensions of norms research in international relations (IR) theory and international law.

Brunnée: The Rule of International (Environmental) Law and Complex Problems

Jutta Brunnée (Univ. of Toronto - Law) has posted The Rule of International (Environmental) Law and Complex Problems (in The International Rule of Law: Rise or Decline?, Heike Krieger, Georg Nolte, & Andreas Zimmermann eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Complexity thinking underscores that, while international law must provide stability to interactions around global climate change, it must also be flexible and highly adaptable. But what are the implications of this functional imperative for the international rule of law? The emergence and evolution of the UN climate regime lends itself to exploring the trajectory of international law in its encounter with complexity. For present purposes, the perhaps most significant trend in international environmental law-making has been the rise of a spectrum of more or less formal amendment processes, and of various modes of informal standard-setting under the auspices of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). Is this rise of informality indicative of a decline of the international rule of law? The paper pursues the argument that the “hard” vs. “soft” law distinction is not the most salient metric when it comes to exploring the trajectory of the international rule of law. It begins by highlighting the main features of climate change as a complex policy challenge. Next, drawing on the interactional account of international law developed elsewhere by Brunnée and Toope, it identifies key traits of legality and the rule of law in the international context. It then explores the evolution of customary, “soft” and treaty-based international environmental law. It focuses primarily on how treaty-based law has evolved to grapple with complexity on the one hand, and with meeting the demands of the rule of law on the other. The 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted under the auspices of the FCCC and employing an unprecedented range of legal “modes,” provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on this question.

Arajärvi: The Rule of Law in the 2030 Agenda

Noora Arajärvi (Berlin/Potsdam Research Group "The International Rule of Law - Rise or Decline?") has posted The Rule of Law in the 2030 Agenda (Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

While the rule of law is the cornerstone of the international legal order, the analysis of intergovernmental instruments, statements made by States, and negotiation records, indicates that within the UN the rule of law has grown increasingly contested in the past years, culminating at the post-2015 process leading to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research article, first, sets out the background of the rule of law debate at the UN, followed by analysis of the rule of law elements in the 2030 Agenda, and finally, explores whether the rule of law is a universal concept that carries normative authority, in particular within the SDGs framework. Reflections drawn from the post-2015 process illustrate that the rule of law - or at least the “thick” understanding of the concept - is in decline in institutional and normative contexts. Simultaneously with the broadening of the rule of law - with more substance and interpretations attached to it - its normative specificity is being diluted, which creates uncertainty and disagreement among States on its core content. This conceptual weakness impacts also the implementation of the rule of law elements in the 2030 Agenda, and can be perceived as symptomatic of a broader crisis of the international legal order.

Deinla: The Development of the Rule of Law in ASEAN

Imelda Deinla (Australian National Univ. - School of Regulation and Global Governance) has published The Development of the Rule of Law in ASEAN: The State and Regional Integration (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

An interdisciplinary work that comparatively studies rule of law practices and the relationship between the rule of law and regional integration, a topic largely explored in European integration. By looking at the function of the rule of law in ASEAN rather than what it 'means' measured on normative conception, the book situates the rule of law in broader institutional and political processes in the member states and in regional relations to show the motivations of member states in adopting a peculiar type of regional architecture. It asks whether forging the rule of law in the region can help build it internally for member states. The book revisits discourses on the 'spill-over' of economic integration, the impact of globalization in reshaping the state and generating new tools of the rule of law. It makes a comprehensive comparison - the European Union, Africa Union and MERCOSUR - showing the uneven pathways to rule of law in various contexts.

Peters: The Rise and Decline of the International Rule of Law and the Job of Scholars

Anne Peters (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) has posted The Rise and Decline of the International Rule of Law and the Job of Scholars (in The International Rule of Law: Rise or Decline?, Heike Krieger, Georg Nolte, & Andreas Zimmermann eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

International law feeds on preconditions which it cannot guarantee itself. International scholarship, too, must come to grips with pre-conditions and existing parameters over which it has no control itself. But such scholarship must not ‘succumb’ to these factual and ideational realities by adapting its methods and findings to any given political, social, and economic climate. It is the job of international legal scholars to produce ideas in a spirit of realist utopianism (John Rawls). Depending on the existing parameters, these ideas are apt to shape attitudes and actions, or not. Such scholarship also needs to distance itself from its object of study in order not to lose its capacity to criticise the law and the practice. How far exactly scholarly writing should transcend or keep aloof from the prevailing political climate and from concerns of feasibility depends on the research questions under discussion and is a matter of judgment. The style of scholarship suggested here is illustrated by the work of three eminent scholars whose careers continued through different political eras more or less favourable to the international rule of law: Hersch Lauterpacht, Antonio Cassese, and Josef Kunz.