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

Apollin Koagne Zouapet

doi:10.25159/2521-2583/10750

Authors

Apollin Koagne Zouapet International Court of Justice https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1228-8027

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2521-2583/10750

Keywords:

Regionalism, Fragmentation, Universality, Imperialism, Contestation, Diversity

Abstract

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.

References

Allott P, ‘The Concept of International Law’ (1999) 10 EJIL <https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/10.1.31> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/10.1.31

Alvarez A, Le droit international américain. Son fondement, sa nature, d’après l’histoire diplomatique des États du nouveau monde et leur vie politique et économique (Pedone, 1910).

Anand RP, ‘Attitude of the Asian-African States Towards Certain Problems of International Law’ in Frederick Snyder and Surakiart Sathirathai (eds), Third World Attitudes Toward International Law (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1987) 7.

Anghie A, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (CUP 2005) <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614262> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614262

Attar M al, ‘Reframing the “Universality” of International Law in a Globalizing World’ (2013) 59 McGill Law Journal <https://doi.org/10.7202/1018986ar> DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1018986ar

Becker Lorca A, ‘Eurocentrism in the History of International Law’ in Berdo Fassbender and Anne Peters (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (OUP 2012) <https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780199599752.003.0044>

Becker Lorca A, ‘International Law in Latin America or Latin American International Law – Rise, Fall and Retrieval of a Tradition of Legal Thinking and Political Imagination’ (2006) 47 Harvard International Law Journal (HILJ).

Ben Achour Y, Le rôle des civilisations dans le système international (droit et relations internationales) (Bruylant 2003).

Berman N, Passion and Ambivalence: Colonialism, Nationalism and International Law (Brill, 2011) <https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004210257> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004210257

Bipoun-Woum J-M, Le droit international africain. Problèmes généraux-règlement des conflits (LGDJ 1970).

Boyle A, Chinkin C, The Making of International Law (OUP 2007).

Bozeman AB, ‘An Introduction to Various Cultural Traditions of International Law – A Preliminary Assessment’ in Dupuy Rean-Jean (ed), The Future of International Law in a Multicultural World (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1984).

Buchanan A, ‘The Legitimacy of International Law’ in Samantha Besson and John Tasioulas (eds), The Philosophy of International Law (OUP 2010).

Burchardt D, ‘The Functions of Law and their Challenges: The Differentiated Functionality of International Law’ (2018) 17 KFG Working Paper Series.

Capeller W, ‘Droits infligés et “chantiers du survivances” : De quel lieu parle-t-on?’ in Capeller W and Kitamura T (eds), Une introduction aux cultures juridiques non occidentales (Bruylant 1998).

Charvin R, ‘“Communauté” internationale ou empires oligarchiques’ (2019) 69 Droits <https://doi.org/10.3917/droit.069.0003> DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/droit.069.0003

Chemillier-Gendreau M, ‘À quelles conditions l’universalité du droit international est-elle possible ?’ (2012) 355 Recueil des Cours.

Chimni BS, ‘The Past, Present and Future of International Law: A Critical Third World Approach’ (2007) 8 Melbourne Journal of International Law.

Corten O, ‘Existe-t-il une approche critique francophone du droit international? Réflexions à partir de l’ouvrage Théories critiques du droit international’ (2013) 46 Revue Belge de Droit International (RBDI).

Delmas-Marty M, ‘Droit international et humanisme juridique: quelles perspectives?’ in Hélène Ruiz Fabri, Emmanuelle Jouannet and Vincent Tomkiewicz (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law, Volume 1 2006 (Hart Publishing 2008).

Delmas-Marty M, ‘Remarques conclusives’ in Mariano Aznar and Mary Footer (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law: Regionalism and International Law Valencia, 13−15 September 2012 (Hart Publishing, 2015).

Delmas-Marty M, Les forces imaginantes du droit. Le relatif et l’universel (Editions du Seuil 2004).

Dupuy R-J, ‘Introduction of the Subject’ in Rene-Jean Dupuy (ed), The Future of International Law in a Multicultural World (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1984).

Evans T, ‘International Human Rights Law as Power/knowledge’ (2005) 27 Human Rights Quarterly (HRQ) <https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2005.0035> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2005.0035

Ewald F, ‘Le point de vue du philosophe’ in Rene Dupuy (ed), The Future of International Law in a Multicultural World (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1984).

Fawcett L, ‘Regionalism: From Concept to Contemporary Practice’ in Mariano Aznar and Mary Footer (eds), Select proceedings of the European Society of International Law: Regionalism and International Law Valencia, 13−15 September 2012 (Hart Publishing, 2015).

Ginther K, ‘New Perspectives and Conceptions of International Law and the Teaching of International Law: Introductory Remarks’ in Konrad Ginther and Wolfgang Benedek (eds), New Perspectives and Conceptions of International Law. An Afro-European Dialogue (Sprinnger-Verlag 1983) <https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-8732-6_1> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-8732-6_1

Green L-C, ‘Is There a Universal International Law Today?’ (1985) 23 Canadian Yearbook of International Law <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0069005800013266> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0069005800013266

Heselhaus S, ‘Universality in International Law in the 20th Century’ in Thilo Marauhn and Heinhard Steiger (eds), Universality and Continuity in International Law (Eleven International Publishing 2011).

Hoogh A de, ‘Regionalism and the Unity of International Law from a Positivist Perspective’, in Mariano Aznar and Mary Footer (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law: Regionalism and International Law Valencia, 13−15 September 2012 (Hart Publishing, 2015).

ILC, Fragmentation of International Law: Difficulties Arising from the Diversification and Expansion of International Law Report of the Study Group of the International Law Commission finalised by Marti Koskenniemi (UN Doc A/CN.4/L.682, 13 April 2006).

Jennings R, ‘Universal International Law in a Multicultural World’ in Maarten Bros, Ian Brownlie (eds), Liber amicorum for the Rt. Hon Lord Wilberforce (Clarendon Press 1987).

Jorgensen M, ‘Equilibrium and Fragmentation in the International Rule of Law: The Rising Chinese Geolegal Order’ (2018) 20 KFG Working Paper Series <https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3283626> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3283626

Jouannet E, ‘Les visions française et américaine du droit international : cultures juridiques et droit international’ in Société Française pour le Droit international (ed), Droit international et diversité des cultures juridiques/International Law and Diversity of Legal Cultures (Pedone, 2008).

Jouannet E, ‘What is the Use of International Law? International Law as a Twenty-first Century Guardian of Welfare’ in Ruiz Fabri H, Jouannet E and Tomkiewicz V (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law, Volume 1 2006, (Hart Publishing 2008).

Kennedy D, ‘One, Two, Three, Many Legal Orders: Legal Pluralism and the Cosmopolitan Dream’ (2007) 31 New York University Review of Law and Social Change.

Klabbers J, Piiparinen T, ‘Normative Pluralism: An exploration’ in Jan Klabbers and Touko Piiparinen (eds), Normative Pluralism and International Law, Exploring Global Governance (CUP 2013) <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567121> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567121

Koagne Zouapet A, ‘To Be or Not to be Imperative: Jus cogens Between Universal Vocation and Regional Claims’ (2021) 86 QIL, Zoom-in.

Koroma AG, ‘International Law and Multiculturalism’ in Sienho Yee and Jacques-Yvan (eds), Multiculturalism and International Law: Essays in Honour of Edward Mc Whinney (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2009) <https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004174719.i-772.32> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004174719.i-772.32

Koskenniemi M, ‘The Case for Comparative International Law’ (2009) 20 Finnish Yearbook of International Law <https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chp006>

Koskenniemi M, ‘What is International Law For?’ in Malcolm Evans (ed), International Law (OUP 2018) <https://doi.org/10.1093/he/9780198791836.003.0002>

Krieger H, Nolte G, ‘The International Rule of Law – Rise or Decline? – Approaching Current Foundational Challenges in Heike Krieger and Georg Nolte (eds), The International Rule of Law: Rise or Decline? (OUP 2019) <https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198843603.001.0001> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198843603.001.0001

Krisch N, ‘Imperial International Law’ (2014) 4 Global Law Working Paper.

Kumm M, ‘The Legitimacy of International Law: A Constitutionalist Framework of Analysis’ (2004) 15 EJIL <https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/15.5.907> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/15.5.907

Laghmani S, ‘L’ambivalence du renouveau du jus gentium’, in Hélène Ruiz Fabri, Emmanuelle Jouannet and Vincent Tomkiewicz (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law, Volume 1 2006 (Hart Publishing 2008).

Lange F, ‘Challenging the Paris Peace Treaties, State Sovereignty and Western - dominated International Law – The Multifaceted Genesis of the Jus Cogens’ (2018) 19 KFG Working Paper Series <https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3261181> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3261181

Maluwa T, ‘Reassessing Aspects of the Contribution of African States to the Development of International Law Through African Regional Multilateral Treaties’ (2020) 41 Michigan Journal of International Law <https://doi.org/10.36642/mjil.41.2.reassessing> DOI: https://doi.org/10.36642/mjil.41.2.reassessing

Martineau A-C, ‘The Rhetoric of Fragmentation: Fear and Faith in International Law’ (2009) 22 Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL) <https://doi.org/10.1017/S092215650800561X> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S092215650800561X

McWhinney E, ‘Comparative International Law: Regional or Sectorial, Inter-systemic Approaches to Contemporary International Law’ in Reen-Jean Dupuy (ed), The Future of International Law in a Multicultural World (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1984).

Merle M, ‘Le point de vue du politologue’ in Rean-Jean Dupuy (ed), The Future of International Law in a Multicultural World (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1984).

Messineo F, ‘Is There an Italian Conception of International Law’ (2013) 2 Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law <https://doi.org/10.7574/cjicl.02.04.136> DOI: https://doi.org/10.7574/cjicl.02.04.136

Mgbeoji I, ‘The Civilised Self and the Barbaric Other: Imperial Delusions of Order and the Challenges of Human Security’ in Richard Falk, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Jacqueline Stevens (eds), International Law and the Third World. Reshaping Justice (Routledge-Cavendish 2008).

Mutua M, ‘Savages, Victims, and Saviors: The Metaphor of Human Rights’ (2001) 42 HILJ.

Nollkaemper A, ‘Inside or Out: Two Types of International Legal Pluralism’ in Jan Klabbers and Touko Piiparinen (eds), Normative Pluralism and International Law, Exploring Global Governance (CUP 2013) <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567121.007>

Nollkaemper A, ‘Inside or Out: Two Types of International Legal Pluralism’ in Jan Klabbers and Touko Piiparinen (eds), Normative Pluralism and International Law, Exploring Global Governance (CUP 2013) <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567121.007> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567121.007

O Diggelmann, ‘The Periodization of the History of International Law’ in Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (OUP 2012) <https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780199599752.003.0042>

Obregón L, ‘Regionalism (re-) Constructed: A Short History of a “Latin American International Law”’ in Mariano Aznar and Mary Footer (eds), Select proceedings of the European Society of International Law: Regionalism and International Law Valencia, 13−15 September 2012 (Hart Publishing, 2015).

Obregón L, ‘The Civilized and the Uncivilized’ in Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (OUP 2012) 928.

Onorio J-B d’, ‘La légitimité: de quel droit?’ (2019) 7 Les Cahiers Portalis <https://doi.org/10.3917/capo.007.0093> DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/capo.007.0093

Prost M, The Concept of Unity in Public International Law (Hart Publishing, 2012).

Roberts A, Stephen B, Verdier P H and Versteeg M, ‘Conceptualising Comparative International Law’, in Anthea Roberts and others (eds), Comparative International Law (OUP 2018) <https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190697570.001.0001> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190697570.001.0001

Roberts A, Is International Law International? (OUP 2012).

Roberts A, Sivakumaran S, ‘The Theory and Reality of the Sources of International Law’ in Malcolm Evans (ed), International Law (OUP 2018) <https://doi.org/10.1093/he/9780198791836.003.0004> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/he/9780198791836.003.0004

Ruiz Fabri H, ‘Reflections on the Necessity of Regional Approaches to International Law Through the Prism of the European Example: Neither Yes Nor no, Neither Black Nor White’ (2011) 1 Asian Journal of International Law <https://doi.org/10.1017/S2044251310000056> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2044251310000056

Salmon J, ‘Quelques réflexions sur les concepts de régionalisme et de région’, in Mariano Aznar and Mary Footer (eds), Select proceedings of the European Society of International Law: Regionalism and International Law Valencia, 13−15 September 2012 (Hart Publishing, 2015).

Sarin ML, ‘The Asian-African States and the Development of International Law’, in Reen-Jean Dupuy (ed), The Future of International Law in a Multicultural World (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1984).

Schachter O, ‘The Invisible College of International Lawyers’ (1977) 72 Northwestern University Law Review.

Simma B, ‘Universality of International Law from the Perspective of a Practitioner’ (2009) 20 European Journal of International Law (EJIL) <https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chp028> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chp028

Société Française pour le Droit international (ed), Droit international et diversité des cultures juridiques/International Law and Diversity of Legal Cultures (Pedone, 2008).

Tasioulas J, ‘The Legitimacy of International Law’, in Besson S, and Tasioulas J (eds), The Philosophy of International Law (OUP 2010) <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139044165.003>

Tchikaya B, ‘La codification régionale du droit international à l’Union Africaine : nouvelle fragmentation ou continuité’ (2015) 2 Journal of the African Union Commission on International Law.

Thirlway H, ‘Reflections on Multiculturalism and International law’, in Yee S, and Morin J-Y (eds), Multiculturalism and International Law: Essays in Honour of Edward Mc Whinney (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2009) <https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004174719.i-772.39> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004174719.i-772.39

Touko Piiparinen, ‘Exploring the Methodology of Normative Pluralism in Global Age’, in Jan Klabbers and Touko Piiparinen (eds), Normative Pluralism and International Law, Exploring Global Governance (CUP 2013) <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567121.004> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567121.004

Viala A, ‘La légitimité et ses rapports au droit’, (2019) 7 Les Cahiers Portalis <https://doi.org/10.3917/capo.007.0027 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/capo.007.0027

Voyiakis E, ‘International Law and the Objective of Value’, (2009) 22 LJIL <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0922156508005633> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0922156508005633

Weeramantry CG, Universalising International Law (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2004) <https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047405290> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047405290

Wood M, ‘A European Vision of International Law: For What Purpose?’, in Emanuelle Jouannet and Vincent Tomkiewicz (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law, Volume 1 2006, (Hart Publishing 2008).

Wrange P, ‘Is There a General Interest Hors la loi?’, in Ruiz Fabri, Emmanuelle Jouannet E and Vincent Tomkiewicz (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law, Volume 1 2006, (Hart Publishing 2008).

Xanthaki A, ‘Multiculturalism and International Law: Discussing Universal Standards’ (2010) 32 Human Rights Quaterly <https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.0.0139> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.0.0139

Xue H, ‘Chinese Contemporary Perspectives on International Law. History, Culture and International law’ (2011) 355 Recueil des Cours.

Yasuaki O, ‘A transcivilizational Perspective on International Law. Questioning Prevalent Cognitive Frameworks in the Emerging Multi-polar and Multi-civilizational World of the Twenty-first Century’, (2010) 342 Recueil des Cours.

Yusuf AA, Pan-Africanism and International Law (Ail-pocket 2014) <https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004285057> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004285057