Friday, October 26, 2018

Megiddo: Methodological Individualism

Tamar Megiddo (Tel Aviv Univ. - Law) has posted Methodological Individualism (Harvard International Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
International law, we are taught, is the law made by states to govern their relations. Unsurprisingly, international law scholarship has traditionally embraced a corresponding methodological statism. Despite common perceptions, however, statism remains dominant: at most, elite non-state actors are studied alongside states. This article advocates a turn to ‘constructivist methodological individualism’: a commitment to studying the making, interpretation, implementation, development and breaking of international law by ordinary, individual people, together with the reciprocal engagement of international law with them.