(image source: Voelkerrechtsblog)
First paragraph:
Diverging views and perspectives on international law are unavoidable. The global span of this body of law and the different geographical, cultural, religious and educational backgrounds of those who work with it contribute importantly to the understanding of its normative frameworks. Multiperspectivism and situatedness thus somewhat seem to be inherent to the DNA of international law (see e.g. here; see also this recent book). The fact that scholars from different countries and continents see and assess differently violations of international law is telling of that. And this pluralism of perspectives is not only unavoidable, it is in fact also desirable and represents the plurality of the world as it exists. Nonetheless, the question arises whether and how different perspectives on international law can be reconciled with international law’s claim to universality and the ideal of intersubjective comprehensibility, at the heart of which arguably lies the very question of the scientific value of international legal scholarship. In times of growing nationalism and populism, when also international law and international legal scholarship increasingly come under pressure, this seems even more pressing (see on this recently here).Reader further here.
