How should legal scholars articulate critique in catastrophic times? Should critical voices tone it down, when faced with deteriorating social conditions, growing inequality, protracted violence, planetary collapse, authoritarianism, and xenophobia? Or, are they more urgently needed than ever? Critical scholarship has long warned of the limits of international law, and its complicity with structures and relations of domination. Yet, contemporary catastrophes have led to its revitalisation as a language of both expert counsel and political demand, drowning out calls for structural change for the sake of realism and stability. Focusing on questions of nature, economy, and borders, this conference explores the potential of international law to be used in pursuit of emancipatory politics and much-needed structural change. We do so by embracing the insights of various critical strands of scholarship, which have excavated international law’s complicity in creating and upholding steep social hierarchies.
This conference is organised by Tor Krever (Cambridge), Lys Kulamadayil (Geneva Graduate Institute), and Praggya Surana (Geneva Graduate Institute) with the support of the Global Governance Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute and in cooperation with the National University of Advanced Legal Studies in Kochi. The conference is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. It is part of the project ‘Law by Colour Code: Locating Race and Racism in International Law’.