Changing Norms and Practices in International Peace and Security Law
This interdisciplinary and collaborative project explores the changing norms and practices in international peace and security law from an International Law (IL) and an International Relations (IR) perspective. The “crisis” of the international (liberal) order has become a buzzword. This includes the cornerstone of peace and security law, the prohibition on the use of force in article 2(4) in the UN Charter. While this norm has been declared dead several times, it continues to shape international politics. This project contributes to this debate in two ways: On the one hand, a joint publication project with Christian Marxsen, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, links IL and IR approaches to develop a heuristic for studying the contested norms of peace and security. This project brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars who shed light on the contestation, change and potential erosion of several norms in peace and security law. On the other hand, this project studies two central international practices in peace and security law: declaring war and writing letters to the UN Security Council to notify it about the use of force in self-defence under article 51 of the UN Charter. Drawing on international practice theories, the sociology of law and the sociology of deviance, this project traces (1) how the article 51 letters have replaced declarations of war; (2) the diplomacy of these letters; and (3) their normative implications.
Partners
https://www.shadesofillegality.org/