The International Rule of Law Rise or Decline?

This edited volume examines the role of international law in a changing global order. Can we, under the current significantly changing conditions, still observe an increasing juridification of international relations based on a universal understanding of values? Or are we, to the contrary, facing a tendency towards an informalization or a reformalization of international law, or even an erosion of international legal norms? Would it be appropriate to revisit classical elements of international law in order to react to structural changes, which may give rise to a more polycentric or non-polar world order? Or are we simply observing a slump in the development towards an international rule of law based on a universal understanding of values? In eleven chapters, distinguished scholars reflect on how to approach these questions from historical, system-oriented and actor-centered perspectives. The contributions engage with the rise of European international law since the 17th century, the decay of the international rule of law, compliance as an indicator for the state of international law, international law and informal law-making in times of populism, the rule of environmental law and complex problems, human rights in Europe in a hostile environment, the influence of the BRICS states on international law, the impact of non-state actors on international law, international law's contribution to global justice, the contestation of value-based norms and the international rule of law in light of legitimacy claims.

1 - The International Rule of Law - Rise or Decline? Approaching current foundational challenges
2 - The Decay of the International Rule of Law Project (1990-2015)
3 - The Rise and Decline of the International Rule of Law and the Job of Scholars
4 - Coercion, Internationalization, Decolonization - A Contextual Reading of the Rise of European International Law Since the 17th Century
5 - International Law within a Global International Society: Comment on Felix Lange
6 - The BRICS as 'Rising Powers' and the Development of International Law
7 - International law and its others: Comment on Aniruddha Rajput
8 - Do Non-State Actors Strengthen or Weaken International Law? The Story of a Liberal Symbiosis
9 - Liberal or not? Comment on Jean d'Aspremont
10 - From high hopes to scepticism? Human rights protection and rule of law in Europe in an ever more hostile environment
11 - How Should the European Court of Human Rights Respond to Criticism: Comment on Angelika Nussberger
12 - Is Compliance an Indicator for the State of International Law? -Exploring the 'Compliance Trilemma'
13 - Comment on Jeffrey Dunoff
14 - The Rule of International (Environmental) Law and Complex Problems
15 - Complexity Rules (or: Ruling Complexity): Comment on Jutta Brunnée
16 - International Law, Informal Lawmaking and Global Governance in Times of Anti-Globalism and Populism
17 - International Law in Times of Anti-Globalism and Populism - Challenges Ahead: Comment on Jan Wouters
18 - Search for legitimacy - a symptom for a normative crisis?
19 - The Relationship between Legality and Legitimacy: A Double-Edged Sword
20 - The Contestation of Value-Based Norms: Confirmation or Erosion of International Law?
21 - Comment on Tiyanjana Maluwa
22 - Ensuring Access to Information: International Law's Contribution to Global Justice

Heike Krieger is Professor of Public Law and International Law at Freie Universität Berlin and Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. She is Co-Editor of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law and has, inter alia, taught at the Universities of Göttingen, Nottingham, and the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies, London. She is member of the German Council of Science and Humanities which advises the German government on the development of science, research and higher education. Between 2007 and 2014 she acted as Judge at the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin. Her areas of research are general international law, human rights law, and international humanitarian law. Georg Nolte is Professor of Law at Humboldt University of Berlin since 2008. He is a member of the UN International Law Commission (since 2007) and an associate member of the Institut de Droit International (since 2015). He held chairs at the University of Göttingen (1999 - 2004) and the University of Munich (2004 - 2008). He was a visiting fellow at All Souls College, Oxford (2003 - 2004), Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2006 - 2007), and Princeton University (2013 - 2014). Andreas Zimmermann, LL.M. (Harvard) is Professor of Public, Public International, and European Union Law at the University of Potsdam, and Director of the Potsdam Centre of Human Rights. Apart from Potsdam University, he has also taught inter alia at the University of Michigan (United States), the University of Johannesburg (RSA), Hebrew University (Israel) and most recently at Bir Zeit University (Palestine), as well as part of the United Nations International Law Fellowship Programme. He has been adviser of the German delegation during the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and has acted as counsel in various cases before the ICJ and before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal. He was judge ad hoc at the European Court of Human Rights, and is a member of the advisory committee on international humanitarian law of the German Red Cross.