ONLINE BOOK DISCUSSION: Hendrik SIMON & Lauri MÄLKSOO in conversation about "A Century of Anarchy? War, Normativity, and the Birth of Modern International Order" (OUP, 2024), 22 October 2025

Source: OUP

Book discussion: A Century of Anarchy? War, Normativity, and the Birth of Modern International Order

The Interest Group on the History of International Law of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) warmly invites you to an online discussion with Hendrik Simon (Frankfurt University / PRIF) and Lauri Mälksoo (University of Tartu) on Hendrik Simon’s recent book A Century of Anarchy? War, Normativity, and the Birth of Modern International Order (Oxford University Press, 2024).

The book challenges the conventional narrative that the nineteenth century was a period of unlimited warfare until the emergence of the League of Nations, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, and the UN Charter. Instead, Simon demonstrates how the concept of a “free right to go to war” (liberum ius ad bellum) was a construct of Imperial German legal realism, later universalized in international historiography. His work redefines our understanding of modern international order and the justifications of war. Hendrik Simon and Lauri Mälksoo will discuss the
book together, addressing current issues in the history of international law.

Speakers:
•       Hendrik Simon is Principal Investigator at the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) at Frankfurt University and Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). His book A Century of
Anarchy? has received the Jost Delbrück Prize 2024 and the Helmuth James von Moltke Prize 2025.
•       Lauri Mälksoo is Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu, member of the Institut de Droit International, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, and the Estonian Academy of Sciences. He is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Europe (2024) and author of the forthcoming Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law (OUP).

Date: 22 October 2025
Time: 2:00 PM (CET)
Venue: Online via Zoom
We look forward to your participation!

Jaanika Erne - Anastasia Hammerschmied - Sze Hong Lam (Ocean) - Florenz Volkaert