The professor has no other criterion than his own
conscience;
study no
other method than that which is dictated by reason;
truth, no
other system than that born out of nature;
thought,
no other school than free research;
scientific
life, in sum, no other guide, no other principle than an inquiry
alien to
any spirit of exclusivism, to any narrow sense of sect.
“Memoria de 1877” I Boletín de la Institución Libre de Enseñanza 21
(1877)
The
interest group on the History of International Law (IGHIL) is intended as a forum
for scholarly discussion on current ideas and developments in the field of
the History of International Law. It aims to foster debate and promote research
collaboration on the history of international law amongst members of the European Society of International Law and within the broader global research community,
including through collaborations with interest groups and clusters on the
History of International Law and related areas in other national and
international academic communities.
Because
of the traditional interdisciplinary pollination of the history of
international law, which blends international relations theory and its
historical discourse, legal history, the history of ideas, political thought
and diplomatic history and it is being further enhanced by a growing diversity
of standpoints, the ethos of the interest group shall be interdisciplinary.
The IGHIL
shall be particularly sensitive to transversal engagement with the history
of all specialized sectors of international law.
It will
also actively seek collaboration with specialized journals and international
publishers in the dissemination of the fruits of its research findings to
the greatest possible audience in accordance, whenever possible, with an open-access
policy.
Animated
by an all-inclusive ethos of infinite curiosity, IGHIL shall seek to stimulate
research on the
history
of international law in all parts and regions of the globe throughtout
different historical epochs while contributing to foster ever-higher
standards of academic excellence in the field. IGHIL aims to do so without
ignoring in any manner the development of the history of international law in
Europe itself where so much still remains to be done and will seek to foster,
in pursuance of the ESIL's foundational goals, “much closer links between
those working in the international law field in Western Europe and their
counterparts in Eastern and Central Europe”.
Furthermore,
the IGHIL shall help to identify many primary and secondary sources in need
of digitalization across the world in partnership with the
digitalizing sector, thus actively promoting the digitalization of materials on
the history of international law. It shall also attempt to provide greater
accesibility of research materials in different forms through experimentation
with the innovative possibilities opened by new technologies. In an age of open
access, this effort will be carried out in direct partnership with the
publishing industry for it to experiment with new audio-visual learning
enhancing tools in its migration to new technological platforms.
Last but
not least, through engagement with technological innovation, IGHIL will nurture
the academic soil with better tools for promoting a future broader access to
university education. IGHIL will also endeavour at promoting
discussion on the role of the history of international law in the legal curriculum
as a teaching discipline and it shall eagerly promote activities oriented
at exploring its present and future potential in the classroom. To this end, it
shall aim at fostering doctoral and post-doctoral research in the field
of the history of international law in the belief, to quote from a leading
post-doctoral programme in the social sciences, “that intellectual community,
interlocutorship and scholarly synergetic exchanges are fundamental to the
early phase of academic career and significantly enhance the quality of the
individual research”.
Through
its steering research committee, which shall be composed by its 5
elected members who shall serve for a period of 3 years (renewable
only once in consecutive terms), the IGHIL will seek, in constant dialogue with
its group members, to promote a coherent and well-defined annual
research programme in the field with particular attention to the
balanced development within its research activities of innovation and
scientific consolidation. In doing so, particular attention will be paid tomethodological
issues – including historiographical methods - and to the enriching
development of the history of international through the identification of
topic areas in different times and spaces.
This
research programme will be combined with the participation of IGHIL in the commemoration
of great historical events with repercussion in the development of
international law in a manner that promotes greater historical awareness among
international legal scholars, international legal practitioners, international
policy-makers and the public in general.
Composed
of a pool of leading specialists, IGHIL will also endeavour to feed
accurately the media during major international crises. The IGHIL shall
naturally actively participate in the annual workshops and biannual conferences
of the ESIL and foster regular joint-workshops in collaboration with other
interest groups and clusters on the History of International Law and related
disciplines within and beyond Europe.
While the
working languages of the group shall be those of the Society, namely
English and French, IGHIL shall seek to actively promote engagement with
scholarly work produced in the other languages by encouraging translations
and the cultivation of linguistic research skills among its members in
accordance with the ESIL´s foundational commitment to ”promoting linguistic
diversity while at the same time maximising the ability of members to
communicate effectively with one another”.
