ESIL Annual conference
in Athens 2019
Call for papers
Call for papers
for the
ESIL Interest Group History
of International Law event on 12 September 2019
‘New Histories of Sovereigns and Sovereignties’
(image source: Wikimedia Commons)
Sovereigns and sovereignty have long been key
aspects for histories of international law. Doctrinal definitions of sovereignty have been instrumentalized in
political struggles throughout history. In the era of revolutions, instrumental
uses of leading law textbooks like Vattel’s even led to constitutional
overthrows. Therefore, changing ideas of sovereignty, the emergence and
disappearance of particular sovereign states, and the sovereignty of international
organisations inspired much debate among lawyers, and between lawyers and
politicians in the last centuries. More recently, many of the major works in
the contemporary revival of international legal history took sovereigns, their
empires, their equality or inequality or even their property as starting points
for new critical histories of the discipline and the role of international law
in the expansion of the European state model or the rise of imperialism.
For our Interest Group meeting at the ESIL Annual
Conference in Athens we are soliciting paper presentations that continue this
path and promise novel ways of thinking about sovereigns and sovereignty.
Potential topics may include (but are not limited to):
·
Potential
paths for the field to explore now that the critical works have become the new
mainstream literature. For example, what might a revisionist history of
sovereignty look like?
·
The
hybrid nature of legal argumentation in specific political and constitutional
struggles and their transnational reverberations.
·
Papers
exploring to what extent the centrality of sovereignty in the history of
international law is warranted.
·
Examples
of resistance to interpretations of sovereignty, or the concept itself.
·
Forgotten
sovereigns and interpretations of sovereignty.
Papers using underexploited primary sources or
involving archival work will receive our special attention. We particularly
welcome proposals from and about women, and encourage early career scholars or
those without current university affiliations to apply. We consider submissions written in
French and English.
Abstracts of up to 500 words must be submitted
no later than 30 April 2019 to esilighil@gmail.com on behalf of the Steering
Committee of the Interest Group, which shall collectively supervise the blind
peer-review process. The Interest Group is unable to provide funding for travel and
accommodation. Please see the ESIL website for information about travel grants and carers’ grants offered to ESIL members (deadline: 5 June), and other relevant
information about the conference.
Selected speakers are
strongly encouraged to become members of the Society and to register for the
Annual Conference; please note, however, that the Society is unable to offer
reduced conference registration fees to speakers at pre-conference events (please
do not register as agora speakers).
Selected speakers can
indicate their interest in being considered for the ESIL Young Scholar Prize,
if they meet the eligibility conditions as stated on the ESIL website. The ESIL Secretariat must be informed of all speakers who wish to
be considered for the Prize by 15 May at the very latest.