The ESIL IG of the History of International Law
Call for abstracts - deadline 15 January
2026 (23:59 CET)
What could be the future of a sustainable
international law? Lessons from history
The Interest Group on the History of
International Law is organizing an online workshop for early-career scholars on
the histories of sustainable international law in the context of the 2026 ESIL
Research Forum, Forum ‘Sustainable International Law. Reconciling Stability
and Change’, to be hosted by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. The
workshop will take place online on Tuesday 7 April 2026, from 14:00 to
16:00 CET.
Theme of the workshop
The sustainability of
international law — and the international law of sustainability — are often
framed as distinctly contemporary concerns. Yet the underlying ideas are far
older. Although the vocabulary of “sustainability” is recent, earlier centuries
produced comparable reflections on how to protect nature and human communities,
and how to craft an international legal order capable of lasting across
generations.
Historical actors diagnosed similar challenges: from resistance to
“technicians for whom the earth is merely a “dead ball”’ and an object of their
plannings” (Friedrich Georg Jünger, Die Perfektion der Technik, 1946),
to Lassa Oppenheim’s 1908 call for a “Science of International Law” that would
secure a stable and enduring international order through scientific reasoning.
Visions of sustainability in international law were tied not only to
predictions that war could be ended forever through mechanisms such as
arbitration, but also to anxieties about the vulnerability of both humans and
nature — forests, lakes, landscapes, and the people who depended on them.
In 1609, Hugo Grotius declared that the seas were common to all, thereby
justifying economic exploitation and military operations, while challenging the
dominance of individual states. Air pollution in early modern cities led to
legal debates and measures. Late nineteenth-century debates already connected
environmental, social, and legal precarity. Reformers denounced the
exploitation of US mountain workers by industrialists and criticised the “land
hunger” that fuelled the dispossession and suffering of South African
communities — injustices that some argued required new forms of legal
protection, including the extension of civil rights within the British Empire.
Across these contexts, jurists, administrators, activists, and thinkers
proposed solutions aimed at preserving nature, restraining extractive
practices, and stabilising international order. Some ideas persisted; others
were discarded; still others reappear today under new names. This call invites
international lawyers and historians to examine how earlier generations
conceived of what we now call “sustainability”:
- · What legal, institutional, or conceptual proposals were advanced to protect nature (including animals), or ensure a durable global order?
- · How were environmental protection, social welfare, and the stability of international law linked — or opposed — in different periods?
- · Which proposals proved resilient, and why? Which ideas disappeared, and for what reasons?
- · How did historical debates frame the relationship between protecting nature, regulating economic power, governing empires, and maintaining peace?
The Interest Group on the History of International Law welcomes papers
that recover these past debates, analyse their conceptual vocabularies and
political contexts, and reflect on their relevance for today’s discussions on
the sustainability of international law and the international law of
sustainability. Contributions from diverse regions, methodologies, and
linguistic traditions are strongly encouraged.
Submission of abstracts and timeline
The
deadline for submitting abstracts is 15 January 2026 (23:59 CET).
Abstracts may be submitted in English or French. Submissions must not exceed
400 words and should be submitted to this email: esilighistory@gmail.com.
The
following information must be provided with the abstract:
·
The
author’s name and affiliation
·
An
academic CV of the author
·
The
author’s contact details, including email address and phone number
·
Whether
the author is an ESIL member, and a member of this interest group
·
Confirmation
that the author is an early-career scholar (see eligibility conditions on the
ESIL website).
Authors of
selected abstracts will be notified by 3 February 2026. Authors
of accepted abstracts are invited to submit a draft paper by 30 March
2026. The draft papers will be circulated among the workshop
participants. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at esilighistory@gmail.com.
Please see
the 2026 ESIL Research Forum website for all relevant information about
the Research Forum.
Conveners
Anastasia
Hammerschmied – Florenz Volkaert - Monica Garcia-Salmones Rovira – Sze Hong Lam
