Please register by the 6th of June for lunch
Reconceiving Engagement with International Law and Institutions in an Era of Populism
From Trumpism and Brexit to ‘authoritarian democracy’ in eastern Europe, from Brazil to India to the Philippines, contemporary scholarship diagnoses an era of ‘populism’. Scholars suggest that one feature of the recent rise of populist politicking in electoral democracies has been a tendency of leaders and parties to seek political advantage by dismissing, de-legitimising, de-funding and/or disengaging from parts of the international legal order.
In this roundtable, visiting ANU international law academics will outline, for discussion, their progress on their ongoing 2022-2027 Australian Research Council project. This explores the nature, extent, effects and implications of the so-called ‘populist backlash’ against the international legal order and institutions of global governance. The project focusses on four case-study countries (Modi’s India, Duterte’s Philippines, pre- and post-Brexit UK, and Trumpism in the US) and four key international institutions (UNSC, UNHRC, WHO & WTO). The project is developing a new analytical framework to offer something more conceptually and empirically sound than a binary of ‘dis-engagement’ or ‘engagement’ by states with international institutions in the context of populism.
From human rights to public health to trade agreements, the project interrogates the supposed links between domestic populism (often sceptical of ‘foreign’ and technocratic governance elites) and state rhetoric and action towards international law and institutions. It explores whether the existing literature too readily proceeds from the assumption of ‘populism bad, international law good’ with one effect being missed opportunities to enhance the inclusivity, responsiveness and perceived legitimacy of supra-national frameworks and mechanisms.
Speakers (Australian National University, ANU)
