International law has a vibrant life as a popular and public language. From the mass protests about an ‘illegal war’ in Iraq in 2003, to the multifaceted work of Peoples’ Tribunals, to open letters on international legal issues signed by lawyers and non-lawyers, international law is used in public spaces to ground claims about injustice, atrocity, rights, reparation and more. In many ways, this form of international law – a popular international law – has become the language in which claims for a better world are made. In this seminar, we will explore some examples of popular international law across time, such as the 1932 World Disarmament Conference, protests against the 2003 Iraq War, and recent open letters on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. We will consider who uses popular international law, how they have deployed that language, and how we might understand the relationship between popular international law, doctrinal international law and international lawyers more broadly. We will also consider the limits and pitfalls of popular mobilisations of international law and legal language.
Dr Madelaine Chiam is an Associate Professor at La Trobe Law School (Australia) where she is also Deputy Dean and Associate Dean Academic and Partnerships (when she’s not on research leave). Madelaine researches primarily in public and international law, in particular the histories of international law, the relationships between the global and the local, and the role of international law in Australian life. Her publications include ‘Law, War and Letter Writing’ (with Monique Cormier and Anna Hood) in the European Journal of International Law 2024, and International Law In Public Debate(Cambridge University Press 2021).
Dr Tor Krever is an Assistant Professor in International Law at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and at Girton College. Tor’s research focuses on the history and theory of international law, including critical and Marxist approaches to international law. Recent work includes publications on the use of international law and legal argument as a mode of anti-imperial political resistance, the treatment of the Third World movement in recent international legal histories, and the history of the pirate in international legal thought. He is a General Editor of the London Review of International Law.
Event location
Neil MacCormick Room,
Old College
Image credit: Freepik
