ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

Friday 31 May 2019

ARTICLE: Henry JONES: Property, territory, and colonialism: an international legal history of enclosure (Legal Studies XXXIX (2019), No. 2, 187-203)

(image source: Cambridge Core)

Abstract:
This paper is concerned with how law organises and controls space. It offers a new history of enclosure in the context of early English colonialism. By drawing this connection, the paper opens up new lines of enquiry into how law organises and produces space at both the domestic and international scale.
Read more on Cambridge Core.

(source: ESCLH Blog)

Thursday 30 May 2019

BOOK: Anne PETERS, Humanisme, constitutionnalisme, universalisme : Etude de droit international et comparé (Paris: Pedone, 2019), 240 p. ISBN 9782233009128, € 36

(image source: Blogger)

Abstract:
Le droit international et sa doctrine sont en pleine crise existentielle. C’est à leur chevet que se porte ce recueil d’articles signés par Anne Peters. Il faut repenser le droit international, écrit-elle. Pour cela, cependant, il faut repartir des fondamentaux, c’est-à-dire de l’épistémologie. Ici, les qualités et l’érudition de l’auteure comme internationaliste, constitutionnaliste et comparatiste apportent un regard original et très riche qui revisite non seulement le droit international mais également la manière dont il se pense. En particulier, l’auteure se livre à une critique des critiques faites au modernisme. S’il y a de vrais apports de la part de la critique post-moderne, elle y voit également des limites, contradictions et exagérations. Il faudrait donc tenir compte de ce mouvement pour le dépasser pour un « post-postmodernisme » qui emprunte ce qu’il y a de bon dans les divers courants de doctrine(s). Deux des directions proposées sont une nouvelle approche du constitutionnalisme mondial et une reformulation du droit international fondée sur le respect des droits de la personne humaine.
(source: ESCLH Blog)

Wednesday 29 May 2019

ADVANCE ARTICLE: Brad HINSHELWOOD, Punishment and Sovereignty in De Indis and De iure belli ac pacis (Grotiana, 2019)

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:
Grotius’s theory of punishment provides a unique lens through which to view his evolving thought on sovereignty between De Indis and De iure belli ac pacis and the implications of that evolution for Grotius’s theory of the ius in bello. Throughout both works, Grotius attempted to leave open the possibility of private punishment and private warfare, a position not easily squared with prevailing views of sovereign authority. Initially, Grotius was content with a theory marrying the private right of punishment with more traditional Scholastic views of sovereignty through a transfer of the private right from individuals into the hands of the sovereign. This theory also adopted traditional views of subject responsibility for sovereign acts—and, by extension, the exposure of subjects to punishment for the acts of their sovereign. By the time of his mature work, however, Grotius turned away from natural law justifications for collective responsibility and collective punishment, denying that subjects had to answer for the acts of their sovereign as a necessary incident of the compact creating civil society. This led Grotius to refer virtually all forms of collective responsibility, such as reprisal or punishment exacted through war, to the law of nations. This sharp reduction of the natural consequences of the creation of sovereign power also enabled Grotius’s argument that the private right of war, and in particular the private right of punishment, remained available after the creation of civil society.
Real the full article with Brill.

Tuesday 28 May 2019

CALL FOR PAPERS: Splendid Encounters IX: Struggle for Sovereignty? Small States and the Diplomacy of the Early Modern Period (Dubrovnik: University of Zagreb, 16-17 APR 2020); DEADLINE 15 JUN 2019

(image source: PreModern Diplomats)

Clearly, there is no universally accepted definition of a ‘small state’, as ‘small’ is quite an ambiguous concept. However, one possible approach would be to say that small states were those whose territory was significantly smaller than that of most other states, which often also implied limited military and/or political power. More precisely, one could say that small states were those whose lack of territory and resources caused them to usually negotiate from a position of weakness. This conference is dedicated to such ‘underdogs’ of Early Modern diplomacy who were routinely forced to engage in asymmetrical diplomatic relations.

Within the context of this broad definition, some of the key issues that Splendid Encounters 9 seeks to explore are:

  • defining a ‘small state’: the changing meanings of the concept both in Early Modern political discourse and in modern scholarship. Which were the criteria of considering a polity as a ‘small state’ (territory, population, military power or something else) especially in diplomatic context? How did these criteria change over time?
  • small states' strengths and weaknesses as diplomatic players: were there any specific strengths of small states which were due exactly to their small size and resources? What were the reasons for diplomatic victories of small states over their larger counterparts?
  •  struggle for sovereignty: ways in which small states sought to establish and legitimize their status as independent international subjects. Which strategies – ranging from political and legal treatises, ceremonies and symbols, all the way to alliances and warfare – did they employ in order to achieve the desired status and prestige? Which were the common obstacles they had to overcome?
  • dynamics of relations with great powers: specific diplomatic relations shaped by significant difference in territory and power between the two polities. Which were the forms of patronage and dependence between the small states and great empires (e.g. tribute, military aid, symbolic submission)? What were the small states’ means of resisting the pressure of their more powerful counterparts?
  • small states and ‘modern diplomacy’: with all due caution regarding the term ‘modern’, one could ask whether small states were innovators or traditionalists regarding the mechanisms and values seen as characteristic of ‘modern’ diplomacy? This concerns not only the well-known issue regarding the resident ambassadors, but also norms such as neutrality or the idea of formal equality between international subjects (regardless of their territory or power).
We invite submission of abstracts of max. 300 words for twenty-minute papers or 3-paper panels dealing with the above-mentioned or other issues linked to role of small states in diplomacy in Early Modern era. Please e-mail abstract and short biography to: se9.dubrovnik@gmail.com. Deadline for submission is 15th June 2019. The applicants will be notified of the acceptance of their proposal by 30th July 2019

All queries should be directed to Dr Anna Kalinowska: akalinowska@ihpan.edu.pl or Dr Lovro Kuncevic: lovro.kuncevic@gmail.com.

Splendid Encounters is a series of international and interdisciplinary conferences which aims to bring together scholars from the broadest possible range of perspectives to consider diplomacy and diplomatic activities in the early modern era. After successful meetings in, Warsaw, Bath, Florence, Budapest, Prague, Lisbon, Vilnius and Toulouse we invite you to join us for another event, this time hosted by The Institute for Historical Sciences in Dubrovnik, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Venue:
University of Zagreb
Centre for Advanced Academic Studies
Don Frana Bulica 4
20000 Dubrovnik
Croatia 

Please be advised, that a conference fee of max. 30 EUR, covering the conference package and coffee breaks, may apply. There will be a number of rooms (student accommodation) available at preferential prices for the speakers.
http://www.caas.unizg.hr/

More information with the Premodern Diplomats Network.

JOURNAL: European Journal of International Law XXX (2019), No. 1 (Feb)

(image source: OUP)

Imagining the Rule of Law: Rereading the Grotian ‘Tradition’ (Martti Koskenniemi)
Abstract:
International law exists in the slippery zone between abstract speculation on binding principles and realistic deference to power. The position of Hugo Grotius as ‘father’ of international law, this article will suggest, results from the way later lawyers have appreciated his suggestion that when human beings enter that zone, they will discover a tendency to subordinate themselves to ‘rules’ that is lacking from other living creatures. Grotius then uses this assumed tendency to explain the trust and confidence with which members of good societies agree to live in peace and expect mutual benefits from cooperating with each other. The same tendency also entitles them to punish those who question the beneficial nature of these rules or lay down obstacles to their expansion. The importance of Grotius in the history of legal thought is highlighted by the manner in which the idea (though not the expression) of the ‘rule of law’ emerges in De iure belli ac pacis (1625) as a powerful justification of the government of a post-feudal, commercial state.

Perspective and Scale in the Architecture of International Legal History (Valentina Vadi)
Abstract:
Recent trends such as the turn to the history of international law, the parallel turn to the international law of history and the resulting emergence of international legal history as a field of study have encouraged an unprecedented interest in methodological questions in international legal history. Should international legal historians focus on the specific or the general? Should their narration be accessible to the many or should it be academic and addressed to the few? This article contributes to these emerging debates by focusing on the perspective and scale of analysis and investigating whether micro-historical approaches can help international legal historians to bridge the gap between the academic realm and the public, unveil unknown or little known international legal histories and contribute to the development of the field. This article aims to start a discussion on perspective and scale in international legal history and argues for inclusive and pluralist approaches by drawing out the advantages and potential of micro-history in relation to, and in combination with, the prevalent doctrinal, institutional and diplomatic macro-histories of international law.
 International Law in the Best of All Possible Worlds: An Introduction to G.W. Leibniz’s Theory of International Law (Tilmann Altwicker)
Abstract:
Today, the contribution by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), the last ‘universal genius’, to the theory of international law is nearly forgotten. Leibniz was a lawyer by training (later in life holding prestigious positions such as Reichshofrat), and he acted as a diplomat and political advisor to the Duke of Hanover. His engagement with legal practice distinguishes Leibniz from other philosophers. Always looking for intellectual synergies, Leibniz integrated his knowledge of (positive) law into his legal theory. He provides the rare combination of an international legal theory that is both grounded in his metaphysics and natural law theory and inspired by his extensive study of the positive international law of his time (Leibniz was the first to systematically collect and analyse historical international treaty law). This article introduces Leibniz’s theory of international law by outlining the different conceptual layers of his notion of ius gentium, by explaining the functions of natural law for positive international law and by showing how natural law can shape the substance of international relations. The three takeaways from Leibniz for contemporary international legal theory are the idea of optimizing pluralism, his ideas on synergies between theory and practice and, finally, his insistence on treating law as ‘legal science’.
See Oxford Journals for the full issue.

Monday 27 May 2019

BOOK: Alexander ORAKHELASHVILI, Domesticating Kelsen: Towards the Pure Theory of English Law (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019). ISBN 9781788111416, £67.50



Edward Elgar is publishing a new book on Hals Kelsen’s theories and English law.

ABOUT THE BOOK

There exists a genuine degree of scepticism as to whether Hans Kelsen’s pure theory of law can rationalise the intricacies of the English legal system. This groundbreaking book examines pertinent aspects of English law relating to constitutional patterns of law-making, the relationship between law and policy, and the ultimate efficacy of the legal order, through the pure theory’s prism.

This insightful book demonstrates that Kelsen’s theory is highly suitable to examine some of these issues, and in some aspects of English law it actually possesses the analytical cutting edge. Beginning with an overview of the outlook and methodology of the pure theory of law and placing it within the broader focus of positive scholarship, Orakhelashvili moves on to offer a description of the relationship between methods of the legal theory and the workings of a legal system, along with assessments of the relationship between law and policy in legal theory and in judicial practice, and of criticisms of the pure theory.

Thoughtful and perceptive, this book will be valuable reading for legal scholars, social scientists, judges, practicing lawyers, legal historians, political scientists, and law students.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin YL Tan is a leading scholar of Singapore's constitution and has written and edited over 30 books on the law, politics and history of Singapore. He is currently Adjunct Professor at both the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore and the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University. He is also Executive Editor of the Asian Journal of Comparative Law and Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Yearbook of International Law.
Bui Ngoc Son is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents: 1. The Essence and Basic Methods of the Pure Theory 2. The State and the Law 3. Law and its “Others”: Natural Law, Morality and Social Policy 4. Constitution and Normative Hierarchy 5. The Basic Norm and Efficacy of the Legal System 6. The Rule of Law Conclusion Index
More information here

(source: ESCLH Blog)

Friday 24 May 2019

CALL FOR PAPERS: Making Peace (Caen: Université de Caen, 13-15 NOV 2019); DEADLINE 15 JUN 2019

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

The University of Caen and the D-Day Memorial assemble a conference in November 2019, 'an occasion for interdisciplinary reflection on the processes, actors, rituals, discourses and concepts of peacemaking. It is open to practitioners as well as academics.

First paragraph:
The concluding conference of the research program RIN PEACE (“Peace: Historical, Conceptual, and Normative Perspectives”) is an occasion for transdisiplinary reflection on the processes of peacemaking, its modalities, actors, contexts, rites, effects, discourses, and concepts. The conference is open to participants from across the academic disciplines as well as practitioners, with the aim of identifying the state of the art of peace research today in France, where —even if there is no shortage of individual studies on the topic —“peace studies” has yet to be truly institutionalized.
Read more here.
(source: H-Diplo)

Thursday 23 May 2019

JOB: McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowships (Melbourne Law School, DEADLINE 25 JUN 2019)

2020 ROUND KEY DATES

Wednesday 24 April 2019Application form and guidelines released on University of Melbourne McKenzie webpageTuesday 25 June 2019Expression of interest (CV and 2-3 page research proposal) due to Melbourne Law SchoolTuesday 9 July 2019Outcome of Melbourne Law School expression of interest advisedTuesday 20 August 2019Application deadline

OVERVIEW

The McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme was established by the University of Melbourne to attract outstanding recent doctoral graduates to the University in areas of research priority, and in particular to recruit new researchers who have the potential to build and lead cross-disciplinary collaborative research activities inside and across faculties. It is a three-year Fellowship commencing at Level A6 in the University Salary Band (approximately $91,000 per annum) plus superannuation. It is a research Fellowship with only a small amount of teaching expected or permitted.Please note PhD graduates from the University of Melbourne are not eligible to apply for a McKenzie Fellowship.For the current round (commencing in 2020), your PhD must have been awarded between 1 January 2017 and 20 August 2019.  The date of the award is considered to be the date of the official notification letter, i.e. your PhD must be verified as complete by the awarding institution.  If you have not yet submitted your PhD, or it is still under examination, you are not eligible to apply in this round.

MELBOURNE LAW SCHOOL EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

If you are interested in a McKenzie Fellowship based at Melbourne Law School, you are required to email a CV (including an up-to-date publications list) and a 2-3 page research proposal to law-research@unimelb.edu.au by Tuesday 25 June 2019. Professor Kirsty Gover, the Law School's Associate Dean Research, will decide if Melbourne Law School will support your application, and will consult with colleagues with relevant expertise as appropriate. We intend to let you know the outcome by Tuesday 9 July 2019. If Melbourne Law School invites you to progress to a full application, we will appoint an academic as your contact (as required in the application form) who can give you feedback on your research proposal. Melbourne Law School Office for Research staff will also assist you with your application.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Ms Mas GenerisGrants CoordinatorOffice for ResearchMelbourne Law SchoolTelephone: +61 3 8344 9983Emaillaw-research@unimelb.edu.auPlease direct any queries to Melbourne Law School's Office for Research, not to current McKenzie Fellows.
(source: IILAH)

Wednesday 22 May 2019

BOOK: Kasey McCALL-SMITH, Jan WOUTERS & Felipe GÓMEZ ISA (eds.), The Faces of Human Rights (Oxford: Hart, 2019), 376 p. ISBN 9781509926923, 20 GBP

(image source: Bloomsbury)

Book abstract:
As human rights discourse increasingly focuses on analysing states and the institutions that promote and support the human rights machinery that states have created, this volume serves to recall that despite the growing size of the machinery and unwieldy nature of states, human rights began with real people. It samples a broad range of actors and localities where everyday people fought to ensure that the basic principles of human rights became a reality for all. This volume will give a face to the everyday people to whom credit is due for shaping human rights. It also responds to the perennial question of how to begin a career in human rights by highlighting that there is no single path into this dynamic field, a field built on the back of small initiatives by people across a broad spectrum of career paths.

Table of contents:
1. The Faces of Human Rights – An Introduction
Kasey McCall-Smith, Jan Wouters and Felipe Gómez Isa
PART I
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH THE LAW OF NATURE AND THE PRISM OF EQUALITY
2. Bartolomé de las Casas (1485–1566): A Radical Humanitarian in the Age of the Great Encounter
Ignacio de la Rasilla3. John Locke (1632–1704): The Natural Law Philosopher
Cristina de la Cruz-Ayuso4. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793): Impressively Ahead of Her Time:A Visionary, Daring Activist and Martyr
Teresa Pizarro Beleza and Helena Pereira de Melo5. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797): The Undutiful Daughter of the Enlightenment and Her Loud Demands for Justice
Dolores Morondo Taramundi6. Henry Dunant (1828–1910): Paving the Way for Contemporary International Humanitarian Law
Joana Abrisketa Uriarte7. Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948): Advocate of Duty, Pioneer of Human Rights
George Ulrich
PART II
IN THE SHADOW OF WAR: DEVELOPING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS
8. Hersch Lauterpacht (1897–1960): The Visionary: Preparing the World for Human Rights
Eva Maria Lassen9. Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959): Father of the Genocide Convention
Adam Redzik10. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962): Driver of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Anya Luscombe and Barbara Oomen11. René Cassin (1887–1976): The Foot Soldier of Human Rights
Jan Wouters12. John Peters Humphrey (1905–1995): The Man Behind the First Draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
William Schabas
PART III
THE FIGHT AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN THE PLACES CLOSE TO HOME
13. Rosa Parks (1913–2005): Tired of Giving In
Kasey MCCall-Smith14. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr (1929–1968): A Visionary Citizen of the American South and the World
Vivek Bhatt15. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918–2013): Free at Last
Narnia Bohler-Muller16. Faith Bandler (1918–2015): Striving to Make Rights a Reality for All Human Beings
Michelle Burgis-Kasthala17. Angélica Mendoza Almeida de Ascarza (1929–2017): The Struggle of Mamá Angélica for the Victims of Enforced Disappearance in Peru
Elizabeth Salmón18. Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1959–): Daughter of Corn
Felipe Gómez Isa19. Victoria Lucia Tauli-Corpuz: A Life Spent Peacefully Advocating for Indigenous Peoples' Rights
Davinia Gómez-Sánchez20. Asma Jahangir (1952–2018): A Saviour of Democracy and Human Rights
Mikel Mancisidor
PART IV
NAVIGATING THE POLITICS OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISM
21. Seán MacBride (1904–1988): A Life at the Frontline
Dimitrios Kagiaros22. Peter Benenson (1921–2005): Pioneer of Contemporary Human Rights Activism
Stefaan Smis23. Max van der Stoel (1924–2011): The Indefatigable Traveller for Human Rights
Antoine Buyse24. Tadeusz Mazowiecki (1927–2013): The Human Rights Envoy of the Former Yugoslavia
Roman Wieruszewski25. James Earl 'Jimmy' Carter Jr (1924–): 'But ye brethren, be not weary in well doing': A Continuing Faith and Persistence in the Cause of Human Rights
Michael Stohl26. Peter Leuprecht (1937–): Human Dignity as a Lifetime Compass
Wolfgang Benedek27. Juan E Méndez (1944–): A Figurehead of the Fight Against Impunity for Grave Rights Violations
Elaine Webster28. Mary Robinson (1944–): A Woman of Meitheal
Rebecca Smyth
PART V
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THEIR DEFENDERS: MOVING FORWARD
29. Radhika Coomaraswamy (1953–): Standing Up for the Oppressed and Neglected
Ingrid Westendorp30. Gerard Quinn (1958–): A Powerhouse for Disability Human Rights
Anna Bruce and Anna Lawson31. David Kato (1964–2011): A Life Spent Defending the Human Rights of LGBTI People in Uganda
Aimar Rubio Llona32. Malala Yousafzai (1997–): A Portrait in Courage and Conviction
Gamze Erdem Türkelli33. Theo van Boven (1934–): Passing the Torch because People Matter
Manfred Nowak
More information here.

Tuesday 21 May 2019

BOOK: Bartolus of SASSOFERRATO, Traités. Sur les guelfes et les gibelins. Sur le gouvernement de la cité. Sur le tyran (transl. Sylvain PARENT) (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2019), 200 p. ISBN 9782251449258, € 25

(image source: RMBLF)

Book abstract:
Bartole de Sassoferrato (env. 1313-1357) est l’un des plus grands juristes du Moyen Âge. Auteur d’une œuvre immense, lue et commentée de son temps comme à l’époque moderne, il rédigea à la fin de sa vie un ensemble de trois traités, traduits ici pour la première fois en français, qui ont comme point commun d’envisager l’exercice du pouvoir dans sa dimension pratique aussi bien que théorique et juridique. Il consacre ainsi son Traité sur les guelfes et les gibelins à la question de la conflictualité politique et des luttes de factions dans le monde communal italien ; il passe au crible les formes de gouvernement et les régimes politiques dans le Traité sur le gouvernement de la cité, dans le prolongement des réflexions d’Aristote ou de Gilles de Rome ; avec son Traité sur le tyran, il livre l’un des principaux traités que le Moyen Âge nous a légué sur le phénomène tyrannique. Si les thèmes abordés sont variés, ils sont néanmoins traversés par une obsession commune, qui hante du reste philosophes, juristes et théologiens depuis l’Antiquité : celle de la tyrannie, dans laquelle tout pouvoir est susceptible de basculer. Observateur aigu autant qu’acteur de la vie publique, Bartole décortique ici les formes et les conditions de cette dégénérescence et porte un regard incisif sur les transformations politiques qui affectent la société italienne au XIVe siècle.
Table of contents:
INTRODUCTIONI. Bartole et son héritageA) L’itinéraire d’un juriste dans l’Italie du XIVe siècleB) ŒuvreC) PostéritéD) Éditions et traductions des traitésII. L’Italie de Bartole, une terre de tyrans ?III. Trois « traités politiques »A) Traité sur les guelfes et les gibelinsB) Traité sur le gouvernement de la citéC) Traité sur le tyranCarte : L’Italie au temps de BartoleAVERTISSEMENT AU LECTEURTRADUCTIONTraité sur les guelfes et les gibelinsTraité sur gouvernement de la citéTraité sur le tyranNOTESTraité sur les guelfes et les gibelinsTraité sur gouvernement de la citéTraité sur le tyranBIBLIOGRAPHIEINDEX DES CITATIONSINDEX DES NOMS ET DES LIEUX 
On the translator:
Sylvain Parent est maître de conférences en histoire du Moyen Âge à l’École normale supérieure de Lyon. Ses travaux portent sur l’histoire de l’Italie, sur la papauté ainsi que sur le droit et les pratiques judiciaires à la fin du Moyen Âge. Il a notamment publié Dans les abysses de l’infidélité. Les procès contre les ennemis de l’Église en Italie au temps de Jean XXII (1316-1334) (Rome, 2014) et dirigé un Atlas des chrétiens (Paris, 2016).
(more information with the publisher)
(source: RMBLF)

Monday 20 May 2019

CONFERENCE: La Conférence de la Paix de Paris de 1919. Les défis d’un nouvel ordre mondial (Paris/Versailles: DHI/Ministère des Affaires Étrangères/Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles, 5-8 JUN 2019)


Conference abstract:
L’ombre portée du traité de Versailles, signé le 28 juin 2018, a longtemps laissé à l’arrière-plan la conférence de la Paix qui s’ouvrit à Paris le 18 janvier 1919 et se clôtura le 21 janvier 1920. Comme ce fut le cas pour le Bicentenaire du Congrès de Vienne, en 2015, l’occasion est donnée par le colloque des 5-8 juin 2019 de redécouvrir cette assemblée diplomatique sans précédent, réunie, il y a exactement un siècle, pour définir les fondements du nouvel ordre international au sortir de la Première Guerre mondiale. Conçu dorénavant comme un ordre mondial, et non plus européen, ses principes fondamentaux - respect du Droit, égalité souveraine des États, autodétermination, libéralisme économique, diplomatie ouverte, égalité raciale - furent discutés, retenus ou rejetés par les 32 négociateurs réunis à Paris mais aussi par les associations issues de la société civile, présentes en nombre au moment de la conférence. Ce « premier Congrès mondial » de l’histoire, comme il fut qualifié à l’époque, et qui rassembla de fait de nombreux États latino-américains, quelques États asiatiques et de très rares États d’Afrique, laissa néanmoins sur le bord de la route les États colonisés ou placés sous mandats qui demeurèrent exclus de cette société internationale au fonctionnement fondamentalement inégalitaire. De la conférence n’en ont pas moins découlé les grandes organisations internationales qui posèrent les fondements de la diplomatie multilatérale du XXe siècle, à commencer par la Société des Nations et l’Organisation internationale du travail, et de nouvelles pratiques internationales qui seront au cœur des débats.
Conference programme here.

 Organising commitee:
Laurence Badel (université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Eckart Conze (Universität Marburg), Axel Dröber (Institut historique allemand), Jean-Michel Guieu (université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Norman Ingram (Concordia University), Peter Jackson (University of Glasgow), Stefan Martens (Institut historique allemand), Matthias Schulz (université de Genève), William Mulligan (University College Dublin)
 Practical information:
Inscription obligatoire selon les jours :
  • par mail pour les journées du 5 au 7 juin (en précisant les sessions auxquelles vous souhaitez vous inscrire)
Lieux du colloque :
  • Mercredi 5 juin et jeudi 6 juin : Institut historique allemand (Hôtel Duret-de-Chevry, 8 rue du Parc-Royal, 75003 Paris)
  • Vendredi 7 juin : Institut historique allemand (Paris) et ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères (Hôtel du ministre, 37 quai d’Orsay, 75007 Paris)
  • Samedi 8 juin : auditorium du château de Versailles (Versailles) (plan d’accès)
More information on the website of the Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles.

Friday 17 May 2019

JOB: Research Position on “Non-territorial autonomy elements in international minority protection in the twentieth century (ERC Project NTAutonomy, University of Vienna; DEADLINE 27 MAY 2019)

Research Position on “Non-territorial autonomy elements in international minority protection in the twentieth century“
(image source: Wikimedia Commons)
The European Research Council funded research project „Non-Territorial Autonomy as Minority Protection in Europe: An Intellectual and Political History of a Travelling Idea, 1850–2000“ (NTAutonomy) invites prospective candidates to join a team of five researchers.
The Project in its Entirety
NTAutonomy explores the history of non-territorial autonomy, which was a means of granting cultural rights to a national group as a corporate body within a state. Without any normative intention, our project investigates this form of national self-rule as both an intellectual concept and an applied policy across Europe. We will examine the origins of this idea in both parts of the Habsburg Empire and conduct research on how this concept travelled to the interwar period. Starting from the assumption that non-territorial autonomy was not specific to a particular political current, we will analyse how this concept translated into the early Soviet Union, the socialist Ukrainian People’s Republic, the liberal democracies in the Baltic States, and the far-right Sudeten German Party in Czechoslovakia. Finally, we want to trace non-territorial autonomy elements in the policies of European minority protection institutions until the end of the twentieth century.
For more information, please refer to our project website: https://ntautonomy.oeaw.ac.at/en/
Job Description
You will be in charge of the project’s work package that analyses continuities and breaks in the ways non-territorial autonomy has been considered in international minority protection throughout the twentieth century. Ideally, you cover the period of the interwar period and the period after WWII. Yet, applications with a focus on either period are also possible.
You should collect and analyse material on transnational minority networks, like the Congress of European Nationalities or the Federal Union of European Nationalities, pertaining to the topic of non-territorial autonomy. Furthermore, you should collect and analyse material of international organisations’ position towards non-territorial arrangements, including e.g. the League of Nations, the United Nations, the OSCE and/or the Council of Europe.
You are expected to participate in the bi-monthly meetings of the project team, discuss your findings, make them accessible in our EndNote database, help to organise a conference, participate in editing the conference proceedings, and assist in the maintenance of our website.
If you apply as a doctorate student, you should complete a PhD thesis on a topic in the wider field of your work package and publish preliminary results. If you apply as a post-doctoral researcher, you are expected to publish your findings in leading peer-reviewed journals and produce a draft of a book / habilitation on a topic in the wider field of your work package.
Starting date is autumn 2019. You are expected to take your permanent residence in Vienna.
We Offer
We offer a 12 months contract, renewable for 30 months (PhD students) or 24 months (post docs) after an interim evaluation. PhD students will receive a gross salary of approx. 30,000 € per year, corresponding to 75% (30 h) of a full position. Post-doctoral researchers will receive a gross salary of approx. 42,000 € per year, corresponding to 80% (32 hours) of a full position. The total duration of employment and the extent of part-time employment is negotiable.
You will have a fully equipped workspace at the Institute in Vienna. Funding for research missions and participation to international conferences will also be provided.
You will be part of a research team of six scholars in an intellectually ambitious and challenging project funded by the European Union in one of Europe’s most pleasant cities.
The Austrian Academy of Sciences is an equal opportunity employer.
Your Qualifications
You must hold at least an MA degree (or equivalent), ideally with a scholarly background in modern, contemporary and/or legal history or in nationalism studies. You should demonstrate a strong interest in minority issues as well as in historical and comparative research questions. You need very good language skills in English and good reading skills in German and French. You should like working in teams and be familiar with the reference management software EndNote.
How to Apply
You can apply in German or English not later than 27 May 2019. Please send the following documents as a single PDF document (entitled: SURNAME, NTAutonomy, application 2019) to barbara.saringer-bory@oeaw.ac.at
1) Short motivation letter.
2) Curriculum vitae, including a list of publications (if applicable).
3) Name, email and telephone number of at least two referees (no recommendation letters).
4) An exposé of your planned doctoral thesis / monograph. Please outline how your sketched project relates to the objectives of NTAutonomy in general and to your specific work package in particular (approx. 1000 words, excluding bibliography).
5) A writing sample (e.g. an article, or a significant chapter of your MA/PhD thesis). It is not necessary that it has already been accepted for publication.
6) A certificate of your degrees.
You will be informed of the outcome of the selection process by early June 2019. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews on 25 June 2019.

For any further information, do not hesitate to contact the project’s principal investigator:
Dr. Börries Kuzmany
ERC-Projekt NTAutonomy
ÖAW / INZ
Hollandstraße 11-13, 1. Stock
A-1020 Wien / Austria
Tel.: +43-1-51581-7332

Thursday 16 May 2019

BOOK: Inge VAN HULLE & Randall LESAFFER (eds.), International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century (1776-1914) [Legal History Library; Studies in the History of International Law] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, OCT 2019), ISBN 978-90-04-41208-8, € 99

(image: the Siege of Sebastopol; Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Brill announced a forthcoming volume in the series Studies in the History of International Law, part of the Legal History Library.

Book abstract:
International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century gathers ten studies that reflect the ever-growing variety of themes and approaches that scholars from different disciplines bring to the historiography of international law in the period. Three themes are explored: ‘international law and revolutions’ which reappraises the revolutionary period as crucial to understanding the dynamics of international order and law in the nineteenth century. In ‘law and empire’, the traditional subject of nineteenth-century imperialism is tackled from the perspective of both theory and practice. Finally, ‘the rise of modern international law’, covers less familiar aspects of the formation of modern international law as a self-standing discipline.
Editors and contributors:
Edited by Randall Lesaffer and Inge Van Hulle. Contributors are Camilla Boisen, Raphaël Cahen, James Crawford, Ana Delic, Frederik Dhondt, Andrew Fitzmaurice, Vincent Genin, Viktorija Jakjimovska, Stefan Kroll, Randall Lesaffer, and Inge Van Hulle. 
Readership:
All institutes, libraries, students, academics and practitioners interested in the history of international law, legal theory, international relations, imperialism during the nineteenth century.
More information here.

Wednesday 15 May 2019

BOOK: Jens BARTELSON, War in International Thought (Cambridge: CUP, 2017)

(image source: CUP)

Book abstract:
As scholars and citizens, we are predisposed to think of war as a profoundly destructive activity that ideally should be abolished altogether. Yet before the twentieth century, war was widely understood as a productive force in human affairs that should be harnessed for the purposes of creating peace and order. Analyzing how the concept of war has been used in different contexts from the seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, Jens Bartelson addresses this transition by inquiring into the underlying and often unspoken assumptions about the nature of war, and how these have shaped our understanding of the modern political world and the role of war within it. He explores its functions in the process of state making and in the creation of the modern international system to bring the argument up to date to the present day, where war is now on the centre stage of world politics.
Critical endorsement:
'War is not only enforcement of legal or moral norms, or a 'contest of arms'. It is also a powerful tool of worldmaking. In this insightful study Jens Bartelson gives a historical account of the worlds that ambitious men from the early seventeenth century to the present have tried to put in place by war - worlds of state power, but also of imperial ordering and cultural and racial hierarchy. Every international order we know is built on violence - but every violence has been accompanied by its distinctive view of order. By historicizing war’s order-creating force, Bartelson not only provides a new reading of its role in international history, but invites us to examine critically the worlds proposed to us by the many forms of today’s international violence.' (Martti Koskenniemi)
 Read more on Cambridge Core.

Tuesday 14 May 2019

VIDEO LECTURE: 1815. Année zéro. L'Europe à l'heure des restitutions d'œuvres d'art (Collège de France Podcasts)

(image source: Collège de France)

Art historian Bénédicte Savoy (TU Berlin/Collège de France) adresses the question of art restitutions ("looting") and the historical origins of the concept in her lectures at the Collège de France, available for all through the institution's website or iTunes.

Download the video for free here.

Monday 13 May 2019

BOOK REVIEW: Thomas GIDNEY reviews Kim A. WAGNER, Amritsar 1919, An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre (New Haven: Yale UP, 2019) (LSE Review of Books)

(image source: LSE Review of Books)

Review summary:
13 April 2019 marks 100 years since the Amritsar (or Jallianwala Bagh) massacre, which remains one of the most controversial acts of colonial violence in the history of the British Empire. In his new book Amritsar 1919: An Empire or Fear and the Making of a Massacre, Kim A. Wagner offers a meticulously researched account of the events leading up to the massacre as well as its aftermath. The book vividly and emotively captures post-war Amritsar, the horrors of the massacre and the violent humiliation inflicted through British colonial retribution, writes Thomas Gidney.
Read more with the LSE Review of Books.

Friday 10 May 2019

REVIEW ARTICLE: Peter H WILSON: "The Thirty Years War, 1618–1648: A Quatercentenary Perspective" (German History XXXVII (2019), Nr. 2, 227-245)

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

First paragraph:
The past few years have produced a cluster of important historical anniversaries, the most prominent of which has been the centenary of the First World War. The bicentenary of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era witnessed a prolonged cycle of events between 1989 and 2015, while 2017 saw the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Earlier history has also been remembered, most notably with an entire decade dedicated to the Reformation, culminating in the Luther Year of 2017, but also with the tercentenaries of the births of Frederick II of Prussia (2012) and the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa (2017). Each has proved a valuable impetus for fresh research, as well as providing...
Read more on Oxford Academic.

Thursday 9 May 2019

BOOK: Jeremy BLACK, Imperial Legacies. The British Empire Around the World (New York: Encounter Books, 2019), 216 p. ISBN 9781641770385, 20 USD

(image source: Encounter Books)

Book abstract:
The reality of being top dog is that everybody hates you. In this provocative book, noted historian and commentator Jeremy Black shows how criticisms of the legacy of the British Empire are, in part, criticisms of the reality of American power today. He emphasizes the prominence of imperial rule in history and in the world today, and the selective way in which certain countries are castigated. Imperial Legacies is a wide-ranging and vigorous assault on political correctness, its language, misuse of the past, and grasping of both present and future.
On the author:
JEREMY BLACK is Established Professor of History at the University of Exeter. Graduating from Cambridge with a starred first, he did postgraduate work at Oxford and then taught at Durham, eventually as professor, before moving to Exeter in 1996. He has lectured extensively in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States, where he has held visiting chairs at West Point, Texas Christian University, and Stillman College. He was appointed to the Order of Membership of the British Empire for services to stamp design. He is, or has been, on a number of editorial boards, including the Journal of Military History, the Journal of the Royal United Services Institute, and History Today, and was editor of Archives. His books include The British Seaborne Empire, Contesting History, and Rethinking World War Two. 
More information with the publisher.

Wednesday 8 May 2019

BOOK: Immi TALLGREN & Thomas SKOUTERIS (eds.), The New Histories of International Criminal Law [The History and Theory of International Law] (Oxford: OUP, 2019), 288 p. ISBN 9780198829638, 70 GBP

(image source: OUP)

Book abstract:
The language of international criminal law has considerable traction in global politics, and much of its legitimacy is embedded in apparently 'axiomatic' historical truths. This innovative edited collection brings together some of the world's leading international lawyers with a very clear mandate in mind: to re-evaluate ('retry') the dominant historiographical tradition in the field of international criminal law. Carefully curated, and with contributions by leading scholars, The New Histories of International Criminal Law pursues three research objectives: to bring to the fore the structure and function of contemporary histories of international criminal law, to take issue with the consequences of these histories, and to call for their demystification. The essays discern several registers on which the received historiographical tradition must be retried: tropology; inclusions/exclusions; gender; race; representations of the victim and the perpetrator; history and memory; ideology and master narratives; international criminal law and hegemonic theories; and more. This book intervenes critically in the fields of international criminal law and international legal history by bringing in new voices and fresh approaches. Taken as a whole, it provides a rich account of the dilemmas, conundrums, and possibilities entailed in writing histories
Contents:
 1: Editors' Introduction, Immi Tallgren & Thomas Skouteris 2: Foreword, Martti Koskenniemi 3: Unprecedents, Gerry Simpson 4: Founding Moments and Founding Fathers: Shaping Publics Through the Sentimentalization of History Narratives, Kamari Clarke 5: From the Sentimental Story of the State to the Verbrecherstaat; Or, the Rise of the Atrocity Paradigm, Lawrence Douglas 6: International Criminal Justice History Writing as Anachronism, Frederic Megret 7: Redeeming Rape: Berlin 1945 and the Making of Modern International Criminal Law, Heidi Matthews 8: 'Voglio una donna!': Of Contributing to History of International Criminal Law with the Help of Women Who Perpetrated International Crimes, Immi Tallgren 9: Writing More Inclusive Histories of International Criminal Law: Lessons From the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Emily Haslam 10: The 'Africa Blue Books' at Versailles: World War I, Narrative and Unthinkable Histories of International Criminal Law, Christopher Gevers 11: Crimes Against Humanity: Racialized Subjects and Deracialized Histories, Vasuki Nesiah 12: Nazi Atrocities, International Criminal Law, and War Crimes Trials. The Soviet Union and the Global Moment of Post-World War II Justice, Franziska Exeler 13: Theodor Meron and the Humanization of International Law, Aleksi Peltonen 14: Histories of the Jewish 'Collaborator': Exile, not Guilt, Mark Drumbl
(source: OUP)

Tuesday 7 May 2019

CONFERENCE: Colloque La Belgique et les traités de paix, de Versailles à Sèvres (1919-1920) (Brussels: Academy Palace, 9-11 MAY 2019)


JEUDI 9 MAI

9 h 15
Accueil
Didier Viviers (Secrétaire perpétuel de l’Académie royale de Belgique)

9 h 30
Introduction
Michel Dumoulin (UCLouvain ; Académie royale de Belgique)

9 h 45
Exposé général : Les traités de paix, entre promesse d’un ordre nouveau et politiques de puissance
Sylvain Schirmann (IEP de Strasbourg)

DÉCIDEURS – Présidence de séance :
Gerd Krumeich (Universität Düsseldorf)

10 h 30
Albert, Léon, Paul et les autres : acteurs ou spectateurs des traités de Paix ?
Vincent Delcorps (UCLouvain)

11 h 00
Pause

11 h 15
Les tensions au sein du corps diplomatique belge à la veille de la Conférence de la Paix
Michaël Auwers (Universiteit Antwerpen)

11 h 45
La délégation belge à Versailles : des négociations au Pacte de la SDN
Vincent Genin (KU Leuven ; EPHE)

12 h 15
Débat/pause repas

14 h
Le Parlement, les partis politiques et la Conférence de la Paix
Emmanuel Gerard (KU Leuven)

14 h 30
La première des « puissances à intérêts particuliers » ? La Belgique dans les décisions et représentations des Alliés lors de la Conférence de la Paix de 1919
Vincent Laniol (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

15 h 00
« Le véritable grand succès obtenu… ». Versailles et les exigences d’annexion formulées par la Belgique en 1918-1919. La perspective néerlandaise
Wim Klinkert (Nederlandse Defensie Academie, Breda ; Universiteit van Amsterdam)

15 h 30
Face au Heraus ! : regards allemands sur « poor little Belgium » (1918-1920)
Christoph Brüll (Université du Luxembourg)

16 h 00
Pause

16 h 15
Les intérêts économiques belges à l’étranger entre débâcle et opportunités
Michel Dumoulin (UCLouvain ; Académie royale de Belgique)

16 h 45
Un formidable butin de guerre facile à enlever ? La « conquête » belge des usines sidérurgiques du Grand-duché de Luxembourg (1918-1921)
Charles Barthel (Archives nationales du Luxembourg)

17 h 15
Débat

VENDREDI 10 MAI

REVENDICATIONS – Présidence de séance :
Laurence Badel (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

9 h 00
Les réparations : des objectifs de reconstruction au marchandage interallié
Rolande Depoortere (Archives générales du Royaume)

9 h 30
La « désannexion » d’Eupen-Malmedy. Une « injustice » ?
Philippe Beck (UCLouvain)

10 h 00
Au-delà du fleuve. La Belgique et la liberté de navigation du Rhin (1918-1920)
Étienne Deschamps (Archives historiques du Parlement européen à Luxembourg)

10 h 30
Le tribunal comme espace de revendications : vérité, reconnaissance et justice (1919-1925)
Ornella Rovetta (ULB)

11 h 00
Pause

11 h 15
Le tout et son contraire : des buts de guerre coloniaux aux accords Orts-Milner
Pierre-Luc Plasman (UCLouvain)

11 h 45
Les traités de paix, un tournant pour le droit du travail dans les colonies africaines ?
Pierre Tilly (UCLouvain-Mons)

12 h 15
Versailles et les questions ouvrières : la paix par la justice sociale
Pierre-Olivier de Broux (Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles)

12 h 45
Débat/pause repas

OPINIONS (1) – Présidence de séance :
Francis Balace (ULiège)

14 h
La Conférence de la Paix au prisme de la presse belge
Catherine Lanneau (ULiège)

14 h 30
Une occupation amicale : les alliés en Belgique entre 1918 et 1919
Matthew Haultain-Gall (UCLouvain)

15 h 00
Versailles dans les carnets intimes des anciens occupés
Emmanuel Debruyne (UCLouvain)

15 h 30
Les collaborations économiques et leurs répressions
Florent Verfaillie (AGR/CegeSoma ; UGent) et Dirk Luyten (AGR/CegeSoma)

16 h 00
Pause

16 h 15
Un milliard de francs supplémentaire pour les finances publiques ? La mise sous séquestre et la liquidation des biens appartenant à des ressortissants allemands après la Première Guerre mondiale
Pierre-Alain Tallier (Archives Générales du Royaume)

16 h 45
Le cardinal Mercier et la paix : bilan et lumières nouvelles
Luc Courtois (UCLouvain)

17 h 15
La franc-maçonnerie belge et l’après-guerre : le cosmopolitisme mis à l’épreuve
Anaïs Maes (VUB)

17 h 45
Débat

SAMEDI 11 MAI

OPINIONS (2) – Présidence de séance :
Christoph Brüll (Université du Luxembourg)

9 h 00
L’armée belge et le service militaire généralisé
Tom Simoens (Ecole royale militaire)

9 h 30
C’était au temps où les Belges rêvaient : le Comité de politique nationale
Francis Balace (ULiège)

10 h
Les historiens belges, la sortie de guerre et les traités de 1919-1920 : esprit de revanche ou esprit de conciliation ?
Geneviève Warland (UCLouvain)

10 h 30
Pause

10 h 45
L’immédiat après-guerre dans les lettres belges francophones : la question des revues
Laurence Boudart (Archives et Musée de la Littérature)
« Laat af de galante handkus aan de muze ». De doorwerking van het linkse activisme in de Vlaamse literatuur
Dieter Vandenbroucke

11 h 15
La « question allemande » au moment des « traités de paix » dans les revues littéraires et intellectuelles en Belgique
Hubert Roland (UCLouvain)

11 h 45
Les Jeux Olympiques d’Anvers : hommage à la Belgique héroïque ?
Dries Vanysacker (KU Leuven)

12 h 15
Débat

12 h 45
Conclusions générales
Catherine Lanneau (ULiège)


More information on the Académie Royale's website.

Monday 6 May 2019

ARTICLE: Terry NARDIN, "The international legal order 1919–2019", International Relations

(image source: Sage)

Abstract:
Despite repeated claims during the past century that the international legal order has been radically transformed, the contours of that order are in many ways the same in 2019 as they were in 1919. New laws govern international institutions, human rights, trade, and the environment and new institutions have emerged that affect how international law is interpreted and applied. War has lost legitimacy as a tool of foreign policy and individual responsibility for aggression and crimes against humanity has been affirmed. Yet these changes build on ideas and practices that may have been rudimentary but were not absent a century ago. Underlying them are persistent differences involving a shifting cast of old and new states as well as differences between local and universal ideals and between instrumental and noninstrumental conceptions of law. The traditional understanding of state sovereignty on which the international legal order rests has been qualified but not discarded, and its persistence confirms that the system it orders remains a system of states.
Read more with Sage journals.
 

Friday 3 May 2019

BOOK CHAPTER: Luigi DELIA, " Le droit naturel à la lumière des encyclopédies (1751-1791)", in: Martine GROULT & Luigia DELIA (dir.), Panckoucke et l'Encyclopédie méthodique. Ordre de matières et transversalité [Rencontres; 385] (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2019), pp. 219-243 ISBN 978-2-406-07472-4

(image source: Classiques Garnier)

Book abstract:
Occultée par l’Encyclopédie des Lumières, l’Encyclopédie méthodique composée de Dictionnaires spécialisés a été longtemps sous-estimée dans sa globalité. Ce livre analyse les Dictionnaires à travers la notion de transversalité, notion qui a permis d’éclairer le sens d’un ordre sans système.
Table of contents and downloadable separate chapters here.

(source: ESCLH Blog)