Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: None

The events of the past few years—from wars to trade wars and everything in between—have posed serious challenges to the international legal order. Has international law become more relevant than ever, or increasingly irrelevant? This reading group aims to provide the tools to grapple with this pressing question.

For many, the liberal international order, built after the Second World War and further entrenched following the Cold War in the 1990s, has been in decline for over a decade. Yet for others, the continued engagement of states and other actors with international institutions—particularly in response to recent armed conflicts—attests to its enduring vitality. For defenders of the international legal project, international law may be flawed or unevenly applied, but it remains, in the words of one of its key proponents, “all we have.” For critics, the contemporary moment offers an opportunity to look beyond international law as the dominant vocabulary for global emancipation.

This reading group will delve into these debates as a way of understanding the present crisis in international law. We will engage with works spanning international law, history, and political theory to build a framework for assessing both the depth of the current crisis and the range of reform projects on the table. Our focus within international law will include the laws of war, international economic law (trade and investment), international environmental and climate law, and international human rights law. Case studies will cover recent armed conflicts, trade wars, backlash against international investment law, climate change governance, and global human rights challenges. Each week will concentrate on a particular area of international law.

Throughout, the group will use historical contingency as a lens for unpacking current international legal debates. In particular, we will pay close attention to alternative visions for structuring international law—projects proposed at different historical junctures but ultimately sidelined by the rise of the liberal international legal order. As we examine calls for reform or abandonment, these alternative imaginaries will help us grapple with the future of international law (and of law!) —both as a discipline and as a political language.

No background in international law is required for this reading group.

Note: This reading group will meet on the following dates: TBD.