Call for Papers: Hosting Global Justice: The Netherlands as Host State of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC)

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Hosting Global Justice: The Netherlands as Host State of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC)," to take place April 15, 2027, in The Hague. The call is here.

Besson: Democratic Representation in International Organizations

Samantha Besson (Collège de France) has published Democratic Representation in International Organizations (Cambridge Univ. Press 2026). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

International organizations (IOs) play a central role in contemporary international law-making: they institutionalize most of the processes through which international law is adopted today. From the perspective of the democratic legitimacy of international law, this raises the question of the conditions under which those IOs may be regarded as democratic representatives of their Member States' peoples. Curiously, given its important international and domestic stakes, however, the democratic representativeness of IOs, but also of States and other public and private institutions within those IOs does not seem to be much of a concern in practice. Even more curiously, and by contrast to other issues of democratic legitimacy it is necessarily related to, such as participation or deliberation inside IOs, representation has only rarely been addressed as such in scholarly debates. It is this gap in theory and practice that this volume purports to fill. It is the first one bringing global democracy theorists and international lawyers into dialogue on the topic and in English language. This title is available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Brudney & Bellace: The Elgar Companion to the Law and Practice of the International Labour Organization

James J. Brudney (Fordham Univ. - Law) & Janice R. Bellace (Univ. of Pennsylvania - Wharton School) have published The Elgar Companion to the Law and Practice of the International Labour Organization (Edward Elgar Publishing 2026). Here's the abstract:

This comprehensive book analyzes the laws and practices of the International Labour Organization (ILO), addressing the distinctive role of tripartism within the ILO governance structure since 1919, and analyzing the organization’s contributions to the protection and promotion of workers’ rights on a global scale.

Contributors explore a breadth of issues crucial to the ILO’s objective of achieving decent work in collaboration with governments, workers, and employers. Topics covered include application of the ILO’s ‘fundamental principles’ covering freedom of association, equality, safety and health, and the prevention of forced labour and child labour. In addition, the book addresses provision of social security benefits, the development of effective employment policies, the implementation of functional labour inspection, and the recognition of indigenous peoples’ voices. Chapters also present a granular analysis of the ILO supervisory system, outlining the value and limits of the organization’s soft power. The Companion envisions the ILO’s future, highlighting the obstacles that prevent secure worker rights and protections in both the informal and digital economies, as well as the impact of ILO conventions on trade agreements.

Webinar: The Future of the United Nations Organisation, If Any (Reminder)

On June 24, 2026, a fourth webinar will be held in the ESIL Conversations series “Multilateralism in Times of Unilateralism.” The topic is: “The Future of the United Nations Organisation, If Any.” Details are here.

Webinar: The Future of the United Nations Organisation, If Any

On June 24, 2026, a fourth webinar will be held in the ESIL Conversations series “Multilateralism in Times of Unilateralism.” The topic is: “The Future of the United Nations Organisation, If Any.” Details are here.

Call for Papers: ASIL/ESIL Works-in-Progress Workshop on the Law or Practice of International Organizations

The International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law and the European Society of International Law have issued a call for papers for their biannual virtual academic workshop on the law or practice of international organizations. Here's the call:

The International Organizations Interest Group (IOIG) of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and the European Society of International Law (ESIL) are delighted to announce a call for proposals for their biannual virtual workshop of academic works in progress addressing the law or practice of international organizations.

The workshop will provide an opportunity for scholars to receive feedback from their peers and experts in international organizations law. The tentative date to hold the workshop is 15 February 2027, at a time convenient for the largest number of selected authors.

To be considered, please send an abstract of around 400 to 800 words to fionamangan@gmail.com and igioesil@gmail.com by 30 June 2026. Selected authors will be expected to submit article- or chapter-length papers by 1 December 2026. Co-authorship is permitted. We also welcome expressions of interest from potential reviewers.

Don't hesitate to get in touch with fionamangan@gmail.com or igioesil@gmail.com with any questions.

Carnegie & Clark: Global Governance Under Fire: How International Organizations Resist the Populist Wave

Allison Carnegie (Columbia Univ. - Political Science) & Richard Clark (Univ. of Notre Dame - Political Science) have published Global Governance Under Fire: How International Organizations Resist the Populist Wave (Princeton Univ. Press 2026). Here's the abstract:

Populist leaders around the world increasingly reject international organizations, decrying them as constraints on state power and rallying followers against the “global elite” who run them. These institutions—painstakingly built through decades of negotiation and multilateral cooperation—are often seen as passive bystanders, unable or unwilling to push back. In Global Governance Under Fire, Allison Carnegie and Richard Clark challenge this view, arguing that international organizations are, in fact, strategic agents with the tools to resist populist pressures. Offering fresh theoretical insights and original empirical analysis, they investigate how these institutions fight back and how their defensive strategies are reshaping global governance.

Using a multimethod approach that draws on novel data and qualitative evidence, Carnegie and Clark identify four key strategies that international organizations employ both to appease and to sideline populists and their constituents. They find that while these strategies help fortify global governance against populist opposition, they may also produce unintended consequences, potentially eroding institutional legitimacy and fueling further resistance. A timely and compelling account, the book provides a crucial roadmap for understanding—and safeguarding—the global order.

Call for Rapporteurs: Oxford International Organizations

Oxford University Press has issued a call for rapporteurs for its database Oxford International Organizations. Reporters have the task of providing a short legal commentary (headnote) on documents and materials relevant to the law and practice of international organizations. The call is here.

Garrido Muñoz, Morgan-Foster, Peat, & Thévenot-Werner: The Law and Practice of International Administrative Tribunals

Asier Garrido Muñoz (Hague Univ. for Applied Sciences), Jason Morgan-Foster (International Court of Justice), Daniel Peat (Universiteit Leiden), & Anne-Marie Thévenot-Werner (Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas) have published The Law and Practice of International Administrative Tribunals (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

The jurisprudence of international administrative tribunals holds great relevance for international organisations, as seen in the proliferation of these tribunals, the complexity of their jurisprudence, and their practical impact. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible analysis of essential topics in this field, including applicable sources, jurisdiction and admissibility, grounds for review, equality and non-discrimination, and remedies. It also covers key emerging issues, such as the rights of non-staff personnel, the growing application of international human rights law by tribunals, and the protection of acquired rights. Drawing on thousands of decisions, this book is an invaluable resource for both practitioners and scholars. For practitioners, it offers a practical guide to navigating complex cases. For scholars, it highlights common principles and key divergences across the jurisprudence of some thirty tribunals, at the same time illuminating the increasingly sophisticated interplay between international administrative law and public international law.

Kassoti, Cabrita, & Idriz: The European Union and Regionalism: Conceptual and Contextual Perspectives

Eva Kassoti (T.M.C. Asser Institute), Teresa Cabrita (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels - Law), & Narin Idriz (T.M.C. Asser Institute) have published The European Union and Regionalism: Conceptual and Contextual Perspectives (Brill | Nijhoff 2025). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

While the EU is the most emblematic Regional International Organization (RIO), the 'regional' perspective is largely absent in debates about the EU's identity and external posture. What does the 'regional' lens offer to the study of EU law? How is the regional dimension reflected in EU policymaking, and how does it impact norm production? This book offers the first critical, legal account of the EU as a RIO. It brings together scholars from different disciplines to reflect on the construction, use and misuse of the 'region' in EU law and practice and to examine how this dimension interacts with other RIOs.

Chasapis Tassinis: A Theory of International Organizations in Public International Law

Orfeas Chasapis Tassinis (Univ. of Cambridge) has published A Theory of International Organizations in Public International Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

Greater, lesser, or just different than the sum of their parts? For all their prominence in global affairs, international organizations remain relative strangers from the perspective of international legal theory. Drawing insights from philosophical discourse, this book moves past binary models that would have international organizations either be nothing over and above their members or simply analogous to them. Rather than compare international organizations and their members, Chasapis Tassinis asks us to understand them both as manifestations of communal organization and what international law recognizes as 'public' authority. Theorizing international organizations as only a branch within a broader family of corporate entities, this book allows us to untangle old doctrinal puzzles. These include the extent to which international organizations are bound by customary international law and can contribute to its formation, or whether they enjoy a legal personality that is opposable to members and non-members alike.

von Borzyskowski & Vabulas: Exit from International Organizations: Costly Negotiation for Institutional Change

Inken von Borzyskowski (Univ. of Oxford) & Felicity Vabulas (Pepperdine Univ.) have published Exit from International Organizations: Costly Negotiation for Institutional Change (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

Why do states exit international organizations (IOs)? How often does exit from IOs – including voluntary withdrawal and forced suspension – occur? What are the effects of leaving IOs for the exiting state? Despite the importance of membership in IOs, a broader understanding of exit across states, organizations, and time has been limited. Exit from International Organizations addresses these lacunae through a theoretically grounded and empirically systematic study of IO exit. Von Borzyskowski and Vabulas argue that there is a common logic to IO exit which helps explain both its causes and consequences. By examining IO exit across 198 states, 534 IOs, and over a hundred years of history, they show that exit is driven by states' dissatisfaction, preference divergence, and is a strategy to negotiate institutional change. The book also demonstrates that exit is costly because it has reputational consequences for leaving states and significantly affects other forms of international cooperation.

Lorenzo: International Financial Institutions and Sustainable Development: Lawmaking and Accountability

Johanna Aleria P. Lorenzo (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) has published International Financial Institutions and Sustainable Development: Lawmaking and Accountability (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

Balancing theoretical and practice-oriented elements, this book introduces researchers, teachers, and students in international sustainable development law to the IFIs' safeguard policies. It also scrutinizes the case law of independent accountability mechanisms that interpret those policies and afford recourse to individuals and communities adversely affected by development projects. The book's focus on the procedural and substantive features of IFIs' safeguard systems contributes to a more concrete understanding of these organizations' participation in the international lawmaking process on sustainable development. It puts IFIs in the spotlight and provides an international legal critique of their activities to match their notoriety in popular consciousness and to enhance their accountability to those they harm. By approaching international (economic) law and sustainable development through the lens of economic, environmental, and social issues arising in development projects primarily in the Global South, the book presents a needed counterbalance to existing literature on the topic.

Marceau & Gött: International Organization Initiatives: How and Why Organizations Adapt and Change

Gabrielle Marceau (Univ. of Geneva - Law) & Henner Gött (German Federal Chancellery) have published International Organization Initiatives: How and Why Organizations Adapt and Change (Oxford Univ. Press 2025). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

How do adaptations and changes in international organizations (IOs) come about? How do IOs respond to crises and unforeseen needs of their members? What role do the secretariats and their heads play in doing so? This volume describes how IOs and their secretariats and executive heads launch and implement innovative activities—initiatives—and adapt to respond to crises, members’ demands, internal impulses, or interactions with the outside world. It brings together distinguished scholars and experienced practitioners of IOs to showcase and investigate IOs’ adaptive capacity, their achievements, and limitations. Through case studies and conceptual frameworks, the book explores a largely uncharted world of IO evolution in which international secretariats contribute importantly to adapting the role of IOs. The volume brings to light the mechanisms used by IOs to adapt to what were, on each occasion, new challenges to their efforts to assist and respond to unprecedented needs of members faced with contemporary realities.

Mansouri & Quiroga-Villamarín: Ways of Seeing International Organisations: New Perspectives for International Institutional Law

Negar Mansouri (Copenhagen Business School) & Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarín (Univ. of Vienna) have published Ways of Seeing International Organisations: New Perspectives for International Institutional Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

For decades, the field of scholarship that studies the law and practice of international organisations -also known as 'international institutional law'- has been marked by an intellectual quietism. Most of the scholarship tends to focus narrowly on providing 'legal' answers to 'legal' questions. For that reason, perspectives rarely engage with the insights of critical traditions of legal thought (for instance, feminist, postcolonial, or political economy-oriented perspectives) or with interdisciplinary contributions produced outside the field. Ways of Seeing International Organisations challenges the narrow gaze of the field by bringing together authors across multiple disciplines to reflect on the need for 'new' perspectives in international institutional law. Highlighting the limits of mainstream approaches, the authors instead interrogate international organisations as pivots in processes of world-making. To achieve this, the volume is organised around four fundamental themes: expertise; structure; performance; and capital. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Kato: Revitalizing the obligatory abstention rule in the UN Security Council: an interpretation of the Proviso in Article 27 (3) of the UN Charter

Akira Kato (Kindai Univ. - Law) has posted Revitalizing the obligatory abstention rule in the UN Security Council: an interpretation of the Proviso in Article 27 (3) of the UN Charter (Journal of Conflict & Security Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

According to the proviso in Article 27 (3) of the UN Charter, members of the UN Security Council, including the permanent members, shall abstain from voting under Chapter VI of the UN Charter if they are parties to a dispute. This obligatory abstention rule has had significant implications in recent years, especially in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although Russia has deviated from this rule by repeatedly vetoing draft resolutions regarding this matter, only a few demands for implementing the obligatory abstention rule has been voiced within the Council. This is somewhat understandable given the legal difficulties surrounding the obligatory abstention rule, which are responsible for the longstanding non-applications of this rule. In this context, this article explores three legal issues related to the rule in question with the goal of revitalizing obligatory abstention in the Council. First, the prolonged non-application of the obligatory abstention rule has resulted in suspicion among scholars that the rule has fallen into desuetude. Second, it has been argued that if a matter has the character of a ‘situation’ rather than a ‘dispute’, the obligatory abstention rule cannot be applied. Third, there is considerable uncertainty regarding the definition of a ‘dispute’ under Article 27 (3) and the method for determining who are considered parties to a dispute. This article mainly asserts that the obligatory abstention rule is still legally valid and that a draft resolution could serve as the basis for determining who the parties to a dispute are.

Lawson & Wessel: Unity in Diversity: Perspectives on the Law of International Organizations – Liber Amicorum for Niels M. Blokker

Rick Lawson (Leiden Univ. - Law) & Ramses A. Wessel (Univ. of Groningen - Law) have published Unity in Diversity: Perspectives on the Law of International Organizations – Liber Amicorum for Niels M. Blokker (Brill | Nijhoff 2025). Contents include:

• Rick Lawson & Ramses A. Wessel, Introduction: Niels Blokker’s Contribution to International Institutional Law
• Roeland Böcker, Restoring Justice Step 1: The Register of Damage for Ukraine
• Thomas Henquet, The UN Liability Rules and General International Law: Lex Specialis?
• Ian Johnstone, Security Council Oversight of Non-UN Operations: Law, Policy and Practice
• Giserd Marqeshi & Nigel D. White, Operational Lawmaking within the UN: The Origins of the Legal: Framework for Peacekeeping
• Michael Ramsden, ‘Uniting against Impunity’ in the New Cold War: Will the UN General Assembly Come of Age?
• Alfred van Staden, The Amazing Resurrection of NATO: Problems and Prospects
• Gian Luca Burci, Regime Complexity in Global Health: The Search for Multilateral Pandemic Governance
• Daniëlla Dam-de Jong, The UN Security Council and a Warming World: Coming to Terms with the Security Implications of Climate Change
• Jan Klabbers, Inter-organizational Collaboration: The World Organization for Animal Health and the One Health Initiative
• Brian McGarry, Weathering a Perfect Storm: Fundamental Questions of Institutional Law in Ocean Governance
• André Nollkaemper, The Quadripartite: Building Alliances between the WHO, the FAO, WOAH and UNEP
• Meagan S. Wong, The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Meeting of States Parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: Mare Ignotum for the Law of International Organizations?
• Eric De Brabandere & Jason Rudall, The Contribution of International Organizations to the Settlement of International Disputes
• Mielle Bulterman & Larissa van den Herik, The EU’s Foreign and Security Policy and Legal Remedies: Three Remarkable Cases before the EU Courts
• Jacob Katz Cogan, Statement Decisions as Institutional Authority
• Helen Duffy & Giulia Pinzauti, The International Court of Justice in Conflict: Reflections on the Role and Impact of the Palestine Litigation
• Huw Llewellyn, The United Nations Criminal Tribunals: Terminable Yet Independent?
• Carsten Stahn, When the Whole Becomes More than the Sum of Its Parts: How the ICC Re-Invented Itself through Complementarity
• Sergey Vasiliev, Governing International Justice: Whence the Unified Principles?
• Laurence Boisson de Chazournes and Pieter Jan Kuijper, Relations between ‘European Courts’: Towards Civilized Dialogue?
• Edward Kwakwa & Irina Chicu, The World Intellectual Property Organization’s New Strategic Direction: Serving Underserved Communities and Helping Transform IP into a Tool That Works for Building a More Sustainable Future
• Gabrielle Marceau & Maria George, The New Roles of the WTO
• Pierre Klein, Between Restraint and Enthusiasm: International Organizations’ Participation in Advisory Proceedings before the ICJ and ITLOS
• Liesbeth Lijnzaad, Anticipation, or the People That Make the Law of the Sea Convention Work
• René Urueña, Falling through the Cracks: Exploring the Role of Law in the Interaction between International Organizations
• Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst & Jaap Hoeksma, The European Union as a Democratic International Organization
• Helena Loutas-Paraskeva & Anmol Gulecha, Unity within Diversity: The Continuing Rise of Consensus
• Paolo Palchetti, Attaching Member State’s Financial Contribution to the Organization to Circumvent the Organization’s Immunity from Execution Let the State Pay?
• August Reinisch, The Privileges and Immunities of International Organizations and Equality: Some Reflections on Their Justifications from an Egalitarian Perspective
• Dan Sarooshi, The Personality and Responsibility of International Organizations
• Kirsten Schmalenbach, The Great Unknown General Principles Governing the Law of International Organizations
• Nico Schrijver, We the Peoples in International Organizations: An Unfinished Agenda
• Jean d’Aspremont, International Institutional Lawyers as Masters of Modern Philosophy
• Catherine Brölmann, Reading International Organizations: Between Legal Construction and Social Existence
• Edward Chukwuemeke Okeke, Law and Lawyering in International Organizations

Clark: Cooperative Complexity: The Next Level of Global Economic Governance

Richard Clark (Univ. of Notre Dame - Political Science) has published Cooperative Complexity: The Next Level of Global Economic Governance (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

Over the course of the twentieth century, states engaged in cooperation through international organizations at unprecedented levels. However, the twenty-first century has featured the emergence of next-level forms of cooperation: international organizations working together. This pattern is especially apparent among economic international organizations, which often pool resources and expertise to jointly implement programs in member state territories. Cooperative Complexity argues that such cooperation is politically efficient but not necessarily economically efficient; it helps geopolitically aligned organizations enforce their preferred policies but can drive inefficient economic outcomes. Combining a general theoretical model with quantitative, qualitative, and experimental research designs, this book disentangles the complex ties that connect international organizations. In doing so, it reveals how a deeper understanding of the supply side of international finance is critical for gaining insights about the form, effectiveness, and likely future of global economic governance.

Call for Submissions: Empires, International Organizations, and Transnational Legal History (Special Issue)

A call for submissions has been issued for a special issue of the Chinese Journal of Transnational Law on "Empires, International Organizations, and Transnational Legal History." The call is here.

Call for Papers: Legal Aspects of Interactions between International Organizations and the Private Sector

The PRIVIGO project (“International Organizations between Mission and Market”), sponsored by the European Research Council and located at the Erik Castrén Institute, has issued a call for papers for a workshop on "Legal Aspects of Interactions between International Organizations and the Private Sector," to take place May 23, 2025, in Helsinki. The call is here.