Fragmentation, Coherence and Synergy in International Law

Abstract

International law has grown in volume in recent years, and changes in global society are likely to increase the need for international law. It is easy to observe increasing overlap among different areas of international law: the international legal terrain is becoming more congested. With congestion comes collision. This article examines the occasions for collision, the meaning of collision, and the possible responses to collision. Collision of this type can occasion concern, as connoted in the term often used for this phenomenon: fragmentation, which refers to the overlap between the rules of different areas of international law, in the context of decentralised production of international law. But collision is less often considered as an occasion for synergy—in which the interaction of different areas of law produces better outcomes than if there were no interaction.