The term 'Indo-Pacific' as conceptualised in the language of international law

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to scrutinising the problem of how the term “Indo-Pacific” is conceptualised in the international law from both linguistics and IR (International Relations) perspectives. The relevance of the topic is defined by a growing number of corresponding legal documents adopted by regional and external actors, which in turn has an impact on the realm of international law. The goal of the study consists in tracing back the peculiarities accompanying the described process of conceptualisation. A brief literature review demonstrates a clear lack of related analyses in the legal dimension; the academic novelty can thus be substantiated by the fact that the groups of sources of law introducing the “Indo-Pacific” concept are categorised in a hierarchical manner. From a methodological point of view the paper is aimed at adding linguistics and international law to the mix of disciplines that can assist in comprehending the relatively recent phenomenon of “Indo-Pacific”, political science already being paramount among these. As for the findings, it has been shown that bridging the gap between the designated areas is in principle possible thanks to an interdisciplinary approach, allowing thereby to create a multidimensional image of the macroregion. Another associated inference concerns the dynamics of how exactly the notion under discussion has been rooting in the sources of international law: namely, this happened due to a transfer from national legislation. The article is concluded with the discussion on the evolution stages of incorporation of the term “Indo-Pacific” in the international law, as well as recommended directions of further research.