Future Of International Law Research Articles

Political Framing in China's Foreign Relations Law: International Law and ‘Fundamental Norms Governing International Relations’

The 2023 ‘Law on Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China’ (FRL) represents China's most comprehensive attempt to date to articulate a legal framework for its international engagement. The stated purpose of the FRL is foremost functional, setting up a legal architecture for foreign policy, yet also serves diplomatic functions of explaining China's vision for international legal and political order. The following comments are concerned with this latter objective and the reception of the FRL by a global audience, including how it fits into existing discourses about the future of international law. Here, advocacy of alternative ‘political frames’ for international law emerges as a principal form of contestation, with China consistently claiming that Western invocations of the ‘rules-based order’ derogate from international law. Yet the FRL contains corresponding forms of political framing, in which the drafters cite ‘international law’ exclusively when paired with the concept of ‘fundamental norms governing international relations’. Interdependency between the terms suggests that the political commitment is increasingly necessary to understand China's interpretation of international legal norms in contentious cases. Comparative analysis emphasises the need for transnational dialogue, to promote better understanding of how emergent political frames are constructing competing meanings of international legal order.

The Role of International Law in Addressing Transnational Organized Crime

This study delves into the pivotal role of international law in combatting transnational organized crime. This phenomenon has significantly evolved and expanded in its scope and complexity. The paper begins with an introduction to transnational organized crime and the critical importance of international law in addressing these challenges. It then provides a historical background, tracing the evolution of these crimes and the corresponding development of international legal frameworks. Further, the paper categorizes various types of transnational organized crime. A comprehensive analysis of key international laws and treaties, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and various regional treaties, forms a crucial part of the study. The role of international organizations like the United Nations, Interpol, and regional entities in enforcing these laws and promoting cooperation is critically evaluated. The paper addresses the significant challenges in implementation, including jurisdictional issues, disparities in national legal systems, and political and economic barriers. Through case studies, the paper analyzes successful international cooperations as well as notable failures, providing a real-world perspective on the effectiveness of current strategies. The emerging trends and future challenges section looks at the impact of technology and changing political landscapes on transnational crime. Finally, the paper proposes potential solutions and policy recommendations, focusing on strengthening international legal frameworks and enhancing global cooperation and intelligence sharing. The conclusion summarizes the findings and reflects on the future of international law in effectively tackling transnational organized crime within the evolving global landscape.

Not a Threat, an Opportunity: Regional Approaches and the Future of International Law

The discourse of international law has always been careful to denounce anything that could undermine the universality of international law. Consequently, it has developed new ideas and mechanisms that can help to curb any risk of fragmentation. In parallel with this movement, there are increasingly pressing calls for greater consideration of multiculturalism and pluralism in international law. The present reflection focuses on the articulation of these two movements by asking whether regional approaches to international law (RAIL) pose a real threat to the coherence and integrity of international law. The article concludes that RAIL can—under certain conditions—be a source of enrichment and consolidation of international law.

Britain and the Future of International Law

Abstract British history shows that Britain has always been internationalist by necessity and by choice, with a belief in the Rule of Law as the basis of all public order, national and international. The human world is facing existential challenges which require new conceptions of international society and the international Rule of Law to which Britain is exceptionally well placed to contribute.

Democracies and International Law by Tom Ginsburg

Six days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding an end to the invasion and an immediate withdrawal of troops. The situation seemed unambiguous: a clear-cut violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, one of the bedrock principles of the UN Charter. Yet, the vote was not unanimous or even near unanimous. While overwhelmingly approved, with 141 states in favor and five against, a surprising thirty-five states abstained. All but three of the states that abstained or voted against the resolution are authoritarian or authoritarian-leaning. Such a clustering of authoritarian states—many of which are postcolonial and have recent histories of conflict—against a public condemnation of aggression begs the question of the relationship between domestic regime type and international law. This question is at the heart of Tom Ginsburg’s Democracies and International Law, a tour de force of the observed patterns of democracies utilizing international law. From this empirical analysis, the book makes insightful and informed predictions about the future of international law under democratic decline, including the potential of using international law to shore up democracy and the characteristics of “authoritarian international law.”

International Prosecutors Acting before National Courts?: The Rome Statute System and the Ultimate Approach to Positive Complementarity

Abstract The paper discusses whether it is possible to install an international prosecutor before domestic courts to prosecute international crimes. As the “future of international law is domestic” the paper analyzes the question of possible development of the international criminal justice system, suggesting the ultimate approach to positive complementarity which includes international prosecutors acting before national courts. It begins with analyzing the concept of positive complementarity and its possible interpretations, arguing that there are no compelling policy reasons against reinterpreting the idea in order to allow an international prosecutor to act before national courts. Subsequently it briefly presents the first installments of such institutions and focuses on the challenges connected with providing such a scenario in a future.

An Alternative to Zombieing: Lawfare between Russia and Ukraine and the Future of International Law

An Alternative to Zombieing: Lawfare between Russia and Ukraine and the Future of International Law

Chinese Positions on Global Constitutionalism, Community of Common Destiny for Mankind, and the Future of International Law

Abstract Global constitutionalism and the Chinese concept of a community of common destiny for mankind provide different master narratives for the future development of the international legal order. This study analyses Chinese legal scholarship and Chinese government statements that relate to elements of global constitutionalism and the community of common destiny in order to identify the values and structures of future international law envisaged by China. We argue that although authors and government statements refute or re-interpret the underlying values of global constitutionalism such as the rule of law, democracy and human rights, Chinese scholarship embraces the idea of a higher order of international norms that derive from the common values of the international community. However, the Chinese government’s position on jus cogens appears to reject a version of peremptory norms that empower non-state actors. We find that he principle of universal security and the principle of openness and inclusiveness that form part of the community of common destiny concept extend to international law the important regime-specific domestic doctrines of social stability and national conditions. In the legal interpretation of the community of common destiny concept, this study finds evidence of a dialectical process of norm-making that consists of both a confirmation of the normative status quo and the pursuit of far-reaching changes to the international legal order.

Regional Orders, Geopolitics, and the Future of International Law

Abstract This article argues that the old international law of empires, greater spaces, and regional orders did not disappear with the creation of the United Nations. While revisionist histories of international law have complicated the claim that a Westphalian order of independent states completely replaced a world of more varied political forms in the mid-seventeenth century, international lawyers nonetheless largely accept that such a transformation did take place at some point. The state is treated as the normative political subject of international law, and any move away from the geography of statehood as the foundation of the international legal system is seen as novel, exceptional, or illegal. The narrative that the state has become the primary political subject and spatial form of international law masks the persistence of regional orders as a core feature of the contemporary legal system. This article shows that international lawyers have been engaged in justifying, making sense of, narrating, and assembling regional orders for at least the past century. It explores the rival regionalisms promoted during the inter-war period, the struggles over regional orders during the early decades of decolonization, the expansive vision of regional orders consolidated in the early post-Cold War decades by the United States and its allies, and the regional ambitions of China in the twenty-first century. It analyses how regional orders are assembled and resisted through international law, what values are proclaimed to justify different forms of regional ordering, whose interests are represented, and the relation between grand narratives and technical transactions in that legal work. The article concludes that bringing the concept of regional orders to the foreground can open up a new and timely set of questions about politics, representation, and the future of international law.

THE “ENGLISH SCHOOL” OF INTERNATIONAL LAW: SOUNDINGS VIA THE 1972 JUBILEE ESSAYS

AbstractAs part of the Cambridge Law Journal's centenary celebrations, this article reads two essays from the journal's 50th anniversary issue. The essays, by Cambridge professors Robert Jennings and Derek Bowett offer resources for the history of international law and its historiography. They shine a light on key debates on the law of the sea at a crucial moment of its development. A close reading of these essays also reveals starting points for new scrutiny of an “English” tradition of international law, including the place of the academy within the tradition, its blueprints for the future of international law and international legal order, and its relation to empire and capitalism.

Beyond the West and the Rest: the Foundations of Cosmopolitanism and the Future of International Law

For the past thirty years, the phrase “Beyond the West and the Rest” has often been used in the debates on international relations. The conference starts by recalling a few obvious facts about International Law and the West: and then proceeds to show that international law underwent a dramatic change in the course of the 20th century. It then goes on to argue that though international law has changed deeply, its main tenets remain Western, before introducing some of the ethical changes that should be adopted to complete the transition from the current situation to a cosmopolitan world – which is a world structured not according to the classical dualist perspective of “Us and the Other” but rather in a monistic perspective of “Us-Into-the-World”.

개인데이터의 보호 대(對) 자유로운 국제이동: 국제법의 현재와 미래

개인데이터의 보호 대(對) 자유로운 국제이동: 국제법의 현재와 미래

The Fragmentation of International Law: Contemporary Debates and Responses

Abstract The fragmentation of international law is an undeniable issue in contemporary international law, which has received some considerable critical attention this past decade. Regardless of the fact that this is an age-old problem, its recent manifestations have sparked a debate in which two groups of international scholars (positivists and realists) have expressed contesting views on whether fragmentation is a real problem to be solved, or simply a pure academic anxiety about the future of international law. This paper describes why and how fragmentation is a problem of international law, through case law examples of substantive and procedural aspects of fragmentation. The paper then analyses the value of international law mechanisms of dealing with normative conflicts, as well as the shortcomings of those tools. The paper reviews the ongoing debate as to whether fragmentation is a negative or a positive force in the international legal order. The paper contributes to the academic debate by arguing that because of the structural make-up of the international legal system, fragmentation is inevitable, but at the same time, it is a manageable phenomenon. It is argued that fragmentation is a permanent feature of the international legal system, and as such, its relevance to the future of international law must not be undermined. The paper also argues and recommends that the ever-important goal of ensuring unity and coherence of the international legal system should never be lost, and this argument is advanced in view of contemporary academic scholarship that seeks to put the matter of fragmentation to rest.

The Virginia Journal of International Law (A)

Established in 1959, the Virginia Journal of International Law (VJIL) was a student-edited law review at the University of Virginia School of Law. It was among the world's most influential international law journals, and pieces published in the journal had been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States and the International Court of Justice, among many other highly prestigious courts. Despite this, it faced numerous operational challenges, including long publication lead times, missed publication dates, and financial uncertainty. The case allows students to practice problem solving through the A3 thinking process. Supplemental videos discuss aspects of the case in detail and support case discussion. Excerpt UVA-OM-1640 Jul. 31, 2020 The Virginia Journal of International Law (A) This is a [freaking] mutiny…how the hell did it get like this? —Incoming Editor-in-Chief, Virginia Journal of International Law, Volume 60 Established in 1959, the Virginia Journal of International Law (VJIL) was a student-edited law review at the University of Virginia School of Law. It was among the world's most influential international law journals, and pieces published in the journal had been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States and the International Court of Justice, among many other highly prestigious courts. VJIL covered a wide range of topics within international law, including international commercial law, international litigation and arbitration, international humanitarian and human rights, and comparative law. The journal expected to publish three editions annually, comprising one volume. Each issue contained approximately four pieces, which could be articles, notes, or essays. VJIL had hundreds of universities and agencies as subscribers that paid annual subscription fees for the three editions in each volume. The journal had the goals of being profitable and being a highly citable and prestigious law review to which scholars and judges looked when writing commentary and making decisions about the future of international law. . . .

The Future of International Law is Cognitive—International Law, Cognitive Sociology and Cognitive Pragmatics

AbstractScholars today discuss international law from various methodological angles. This Article aims to add perspectives from cognitive science, namely cognitive sociology and cognitive linguistics, or, to be more precise, cognitive pragmatics. It briefly elaborates on these fields’ respective approaches, benefits, and limits. To clearly delineate the usefulness of the methodologies, this Article separately applies both approaches to the same example of a process of interpretation in international law. This Article concludes that the two cognitive approaches can help lawyers better understand and implement international law. This not only provides a description of the process of interpretation, but will hopefully enable a better practice of international law.

The Non-Native Speakers of International Law: The Case of Russia

This article presents a metaphor that might explain Russia’s approach to international law. Drawing on linguistics, the article proposes that Russia has been a non-native speaker of international law. A non-native speaker’s experiences range from estrangement and disengagement from the foreign language and its speech community to that of empowerment and inspiration nurtured by the acquisition of a new language and a new multilingual identity. Thus, as a non-native speaker, Russia has approached international law with two rhetorical moves: as a disaffected foreigner and as an empowered multilingual subject who aspires to uphold and interpret the rules of the language recently acquired. As a multilingual speaker fluent in the language of international law, Russia has asserted control over judgments of grammaticality and has disagreed with previously determined linguistic rules established by the native-speaking community. The notion of a non-native speaker of international law can apply to states other than Russia. Policymakers and intellectual leaders of other countries, including China, might perceive themselves as non-native speakers in their encounters with the western European foundations of the language of international law. Finally, the article explores the future of international law by asking whether non-native speakers who have been gaining fluency in the parlance of international law will continue to develop their own linguistic repertoire, build their own vocabularies, and advance their own assertions regarding rules of grammar. The future of international law might be diglossic, as two varieties of its language, shared by different speech communities and practiced in different contexts, may be established.

To Whom Belongs the Land? Territory, Sovereignty and Imperialism in the History of International Law

This paper’s main objective is to substantiate that an accurate analysis and interpretation of (the acquisition of) territory in the history of the law of nations enables us to better understand and deal with current conflicts on territory in international law. More concretely, it answers the questions how the relation between territory, imperialism and international law has to be understood, in what way imperialism determined the nature of 20th-century international law and what this means for the territorial issues in the past, present and future of international law. The paper brings three themes together: first the evolution of international law, which, as will be shown, is a child of its time and functions like a perpetuum mobile; second, the central role sovereignty and property – as concepts closely related to territoriality – play in the confrontation between nations; and, third, the bridging of the past to the present in an accountable and reliable manner turns out to be the foundation of writing international legal history. In order to concretize the assessment of the influence of imperialism on international law, 19th-century imperialism will serve as a parameter and set the historical background, which, as will.

The Results of the Research and Practice Conference "The Future of International Law"

The survey provides for the main statements of the reports made by leading international law lawyers on April 8, 2016 at the Research and Practice Conference "The Future of International Law" within the framework of III International Legal Forum (Kutafinskie Readings). The survey briefly outlines the essence and the ways of resolving problems of international law efficiency addressed by the participants, namely: imposition of sanctions, implementation of international obligations by the states, rule-making by international courts, theoretical developments in the sphere of international organizations, fight against cyber attacks, application of the term "integration law", etc.

The Notion of Hierarchy Under the Light of the Founding Fathers' Magna Opera: The Ideological Structure of the Early Jus Gentium and its Implications on the Current Debate About the Order of Values and Normative Hierarchy

As Carl Schmitt has aptly observed all great political concepts possess a certain theological attribute, connotation or origin. By applying the latter doctrine of political theology on international normativity, the author in the present paper attempts to investigate, re-discover and highlight the interdependence between the early theological values and pre-data of the doctrina christiana, and the initial phase of crystallization of international legal rules via the works of the Great Founders of the scientific discipline in question. Based on this evident interplay between theological concepts of the past and the consolidation of International Law's early doctrines, an attempt is made to discern certain fundamental principles, common to the works of all the Founders, acting as constituent pillars of the international system, establishing a definite hierarchical relation between rules, principles and ultimately rights of International Law's subjects. Furthermore, after reassessing concepts such as the vitorian “totus orbis” and the ideal of the “civitas gentium maxima”, the paper proceeds to reinterpret the function of the early visions‟ enforcement mechanisms aiming at the protection of the fundamental pillars of the international juridical cosmos, a point of paramount importance utilized to confirm the existence of a well-ordered hierarchy between the norms, principles, and rights within the Founders‟ system. Upon establishing that normative hierarchy in the original visions was based on the higher ontological importance of certain values, necessary for the perpetuation of the system, this proposition is scrutinized so as to attest whether it remains pertinent up to our days of multilevel interdependence and variable international normativity. After drawing some conclusions on the influence of the theological concepts and the doctrinal methods of theology involved in the formation of International Law, the current problematic of normative hierarchy is addressed. Finally, the essay concludes with remarks concerning the future of International Law's orientation regarding the need for a solid (or else) hierarchy, the prospect of further verticalization and a kelsenian exegesis of international adjudication vis-a-vis international community's fundamental norms.

COMPLEMENTARITY AND COOPERATIVE JUSTICE AHEAD OF THEIR TIME? THE UNITED NATIONS WAR CRIMES COMMISSION, FACT-FINDING AND EVIDENCE

Today, many international criminal lawyers claim that the future of international law is domestic. The example of the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) shows that this might not only be the future, but also the past. This article analyzes the practice of the Commission (1943–1948), with a particular emphasis on facts, evidence and interaction with domestic authorities. It argues that the UNWCC marked an early counter-model to the idea of military justice that prevailed in many World War II accountability initiatives, and an alternative to the centralized and situation-specific enforcement model under the umbrella of United Nations (UN) peace maintenance. The Commission represents a cooperative approach to justice and sovereignty that has got lost in the course of the second half of the twentieth century. In the mid-1940s, attention shifted quickly, and perhaps too early from the UNWCC itself to the idea of centralized enforcement under the umbrella of an International Criminal Court. The work of the Commission foreshadows many core dilemmas of contemporary international justice, including debates over independent investigative authority, proprio motu powers, the labelling and origin of core crimes (e.g. aggression, crimes against humanity), the treatment of group criminality (e.g. attribution of conduct) and evidentiary standards in proceedings. Similar structures are gradually re-emerging in the context of regional integration (e.g. ‘mutual trust’ under the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice) or the operationalization of complementarity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). But in terms of cooperation between major powers and use of international expertise and advice in criminal proceedings, international criminal justice is still in search of a modern UNWCC 2.0.