Wednesday, August 29, 2012


ASIL–ESIL
Rechtskulturen Workshop, 

Cambridge Transatlantic Debates in International Legal Theory

Draft Programme



Thursday, 20 September 2012 

Welcome and Introductions
Marc Weller or Roger O’Keefe (Lauterpacht Centre)
Evan Criddle (Syracuse/ASIL) and Jörg Kammerhofer (Freiburg/ESIL)

Keynote Speech
Philip Allott (Cambridge), Law and Social Evolution

Panel 1 - Transatlantic Currents in International Legal Theory
Chair: Aeyal Gross (Tel Aviv)
- Monica Garcia-Salmones (Helsinki), What Divides Us in Truth Unites Us: The Interests’ Approach in the Transatlantic Debates in International Legal Theory
- John Parry (Lewis & Clark), Historicizing (and Abandoning?) the ‘Grotian Tradition’ in International Law
- Guglielmo Verdirame (KCL), International Law: Time for a Normative (Re) Turn?
Discussant: Patrick Capps (Bristol)

Formal Dinner at Clare College


Friday, 21 September 2012

Panel 2 - Treaty Interpretation in Comparative Perspective
Chair: John Linarelli (Swansea)
- Julian Arato (NYU), Treaty Interpretation and Constitutional
- Christian Djeffal (Humboldt), Transatlantic Divides on Treaty Interpretation
- Julian Davis Mortenson (Michigan), The Travaux of Travaux: A Historical Perspective on ‘American’ and ‘European’ Treaty Interpretation
Discussant: Stefan Oeter (Hamburg)

Coffee Break

Panel 3 - Theories of Institutional Legitimacy
Chair: Donald E. Childress III (Pepperdine)
- Nienke Grossman (Baltimore), New Approach to the Normative Legitimacy of International Courts
- Surabhi Ranganathan (Cambridge), Should Institutions Alter Multilateral Treaties? Scholarly Proposals, Underlying Visions, and the Degrees of ‘Difference’
- Christopher A. Whytock (UC Irvine), Resolving the Tension between Foreign State Immunity and Court Access Rights: European and U.S. Approaches
Discussant: John Tasioulas (UCL)

Catered Lunch in the Lauterpacht Centre Garden

Panel 4 - Transcending Parochialism in International Legal Theory
Chair: Tim Sellers (Baltimore)
- Rudy Baker (USC), The New Building Blocks of Customary International Law
- Tim Meyer (U Georgia), Title tbc
- Andreas Sennekamp and Nicolas Lamp (WTO), The Doctrine of Precedent: Precedent in Common Law, Civil Law and International Law
Discussant: Philip Liste (Hamburg)

Closing
Jörg Kammerhofer, Evan Criddle and Alexandra Kemmerer (Berlin/ Rechtskulturen)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012


European Society of International Law
Interest Group on International Legal Theory
Workshop, held on the occasion of the Fifth Biennial ESIL Conference on ‘Regionalism and International Law’
Valencia, 13–15 September 2012
Universalism and Particularism in International Law


The Topic

This panel will address the universal and the particular in the structures of international law and the role of regionalism in expressing, mediating or cutting across universal-particular dynamics. International legal scholars are accustomed to analysing questions of regionalism on the basis of general theories of normative differentiation and centre–periphery dynamics, typically adapted from social theory, historical sociology, or political economy. Indeed, only a few scholars have sought to undertake independent investigations into the competing interpretations of the concept of regionalism in international legal discourse itself. What might a sustained theorisation of the concept of regionalism in international law look like? How might such a theorisation relate to international legal debates animated by universalism and/or particularism? To what extent should international law recognize and support the political, historical, cultural, and economic differences among states?


General

Workshop Title: Universalism and Particularism in International Law

Location: ADEIT-Fundación Universitat-Empresa, University of Valencia (http://www.adeit.uv.es/).
Date and Time: Thursday, 13 September 2012, 10:00-12:00.
One panel will be held. Each presentation will last for 20 minutes with 40 minutes reserved for discussion.


Programme

Aeyal Gross (Chair)

Geoffrey Gordon, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Transnational legal studies dept. 'Cosmopolitanism and Regionalism in International Law'.
Jaye Ellis, Associate Dean (Academic), Hydro-Québec Sustainable Development Law Scholar, Faculty of Law, McGill University. 'Law’s Deference to Expert Discourses as Grounding for Universal Validity'.
Fabia  Veçoso, Doctoral Candidate in International Law, University of São Paulo. 'Assessing Regionalism in International Law'.
John D. Haskell, Assistant Professor, Mississippi College School of Law; Honorary Research Fellow, Durham Law School. '"Against Culture": Indeterminacy and Structural Bias in Progressive International Legal Thought'.