Ingo Venzke - Contingency in International Law: On the Possibility of Different Legal Histories

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020952230

ISBN 9780192898036

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The present volume builds on the conference Contingency in the Course of International Law: How International Law Could Have Been, which we held in Amsterdam in the summer of 2018 under the auspices of the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL). It was a sparkling event exceeding our expectations in substance and form; in the depth of the exchange; in open curiosity and intellectual rigour; and in sheer interest and numbers.

We invited a few colleagues to the conference but wanted to seek out unfamiliar voices. About 140 scholars replied to our Call for Papers, and 60 presenters filled the conference. Fleur Johns opened the proceedings and Sam Moyn closed them. Both gave memorable keynote lectures that now, in revised versions, frame the present volume. We are truly grateful to all of the presenters and conference-participants for their engaged contributions and spirited exchanges, and to the contributors to the volume for their continued commitment, ongoing debate, and regular input.

Neither this volume nor the conference would have been possible without the financial and logistical support we received from ACIL and the Amsterdam Law School. Several colleagues were of particular assistance in bringing the conference to fruition, including ACILs administrative assistants Yvonne ter Horst and Kaan zdurak, as well as the helping hands of Teresa Cabrita, Corina Heri, Jackson Oldfield, and Wim Zimmermann. Kathryn Skinner was a superb student assistant during that time.

The volume would not have obtained its present shape had it not been for Bianca Dillons outstanding support in finalising it. She closely read and edited every chapter with exceptional diligence and dedication. We are further grateful to Brittany Feldman, who took over from Kathryn as a student assistant to work on the volume.

We wish to thank Merel Alstein from OUP, who attended the conference in 2018, for her kind support for the project from its beginning. And we are grateful to Jack McNichol for steering the volume towards production.

With deep gratitude to our interlocutors and all who have helped.

Ingo Venzke and Kevin Jon Heller

Amsterdam and Copenhagen, October 2020

Ingo Venzke

Fleur Johns

Genevieve Renard Painter

Umut zsu

Justin Desautels-Stein

Janne E Nijman

Filipe dos Reis

Michele Tedeschini

Mohsen al Attar

Geoff Gordon

Frdric Mgret

Christopher Szabla

Alex Oude Elferink

Surabhi Ranganathan

Lucas Lixinski and Mats Ingulstad

Kathryn McNeilly

Silvia Steininger and Jochen von Bernstorff

Matthias Goldmann

Emma Stone Mackinnon

Bianca Maganza

Amanda Alexander

Nicholas Mulder and Boyd van Dijk

Kathryn Greenman

Sada El Boudouhi

Josef Ostansk

Kevin Crow

Michelle Staggs Kelsall

Edward Kolla

Ana Delic

Samuel Moyn

Mohsen al Attar, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies; Associate Professor, University of Warwick

Amanda Alexander, Lecturer, Australian Catholic University

Jochen von Bernstorff, Professor, University of Tbingen

Kevin Crow, Assistant Professor of International Law and Ethics, Asia School of Business; International Faculty Fellow, MIT

Ana Delic, PhD Researcher, Tilburg University

Justin Desautels-Stein, Associate Professor, University of Colorado

Filipe dos Reis, Assistant Professor, University of Groningen

Sada El Boudouhi, Professor of Law, Universit Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (Valenciennes)

Matthias Goldmann, Junior Professor, Goethe University Frankfurt; Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Geoff Gordon, Senior Researcher, T.M.C. Asser Instituut

Kathryn Greenman, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney

Kevin Jon Heller, Professor of International Law and Security, Centre for Military Studies, University of Copenhagen; Professor of Law, Australian National University

Mats Ingulstad, Researcher, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Fleur Johns, Professor, University of New South Wales

Michelle Staggs Kelsall, Lecturer, SOAS University of London

Edward Kolla, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

Lucas Lixinski, Associate Professor, University of New South Wales

Emma Stone Mackinnon, Lecturer, University of Cambridge

Bianca Maganza, PhD Candidate, Graduate Institute of International Development Studies (Geneva)

Kathryn McNeilly, Senior Lecturer, Queens University Belfast

Frdric Mgret, Professor, McGill University

Samuel Moyn, Professor, Yale University

Nicholas Mulder, Assistant Professor of Modern European History, Cornell University

Janne E Nijman, Professor, University of Amsterdam and the Graduate Institute of International Development Studies (Geneva); Academic Director, T.M.C. Asser Instituut

Josef Ostansk, Visiting Fellow, Australian National University; Associate Researcher, Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement

Alex Oude Elferink, Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS); Utrecht Centre for Oceans, Water and Sustainability Law, Utrecht University

Umut zsu, Associate Professor, Carleton University