Interpretive Community 2.0: How Blogs and Twitter Change International Law Scholarship

Abstract

Using Stanley Fish's description of interpretive communities, this paper examines the impact of Social Media as an additional tool in international law scholarship. On the one hand, it might work against Western-centrism as debates could become more open and accessible for academics from different backgrounds and regions. On the other hand, there is a real risk that some of the downsides we may observe in political online debates – polarisation and a decline of basic decency – could also extend to the academic realm. It is about time to ask ourselves whether and how we can ensure that the benefits outweigh the costs. The following article is divided into two main parts: The first will refer to Stanley Fish's notion of 'interpretive communities' to outline how Social Media may influence the pre-existing special and distinctive features of international law scholarship. The second, then, will show how the benefits of blogging and tweeting outweigh justified worries: Social Media increases participation in and readership of international law-related debates and allows qualified commentary to be published (almost) instantly.