Thursday, April 24, 2014

Call for Papers: The Changing Practices of International Law: Sovereignty, Law and Politics in a Globalising World

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "The Changing Practices of International Law: Sovereignty, Law and Politics in a Globalising World," to take place in Reykjavik, August 27-29, 2014. Here's the call:

– Call for Papers –

The Changing Practices of International Law:

Sovereignty, Law and Politics in a Globalising World

Reykjavik, 27-29 August 2014

workshop co-organised by

COST Action IS1003 ’International Law between Constitutionalisation and Fragmentation’

in cooperation with Bifrost University and the Centre for the Politics of Transnational Law

This interdisciplinary workshop explores this paradox of international legalisation increasing the room for political manoeuvre in international relations by examining how the proliferation of legal regimes and its various mechanisms are utilized by sovereign states to bolster political positions and barter off responsibilities under international law. We invite papers that analyse how the increasing legalisation of international politics both changes the obligations of states under international law, yet at the same time, and through its own proliferation, provides the backdrop for governmental strategies to instrumentalise legal discourse and/or elude legal obligations.

In particular we are interested in papers that focus on a particular issue area (such as bilateral investment treaties/global financing, international environmental law, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, law of the sea) to analyse the legal strategies states use to instrumentalise or escape international law within these particular areas. These include, but are not limited to:

  • judicial jurisdiction shopping
  • territorial jurisdiction shopping
  • regime shopping
  • offshore law enforcement
  • privatisation and outsourcing
  • strategic influencing legal interpretation

A collection of the papers presented at the workshop will be published as an edited volume. Presenters that do not wish to submit their paper for this publication should clearly indicate so.

Fees

This research workshop is generously funded by COST Action IS1003. This means that there is no conference fee. For COST Action IS1003 members the usual reimbursement rules apply.

Submission

Please send your abstract of about 300 words to Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen (tgh@humanrights.dk) and Tanja Aalberts (t.e.aalberts@vu.nl). Deadline 19 May 2014. The selection of papers will be announced by 30 May 2014.