Call for Papers: Pre-conference Workshop & Official Launch of Interest Group, ESIL 2025 Annual Conference

Critical Methodologies for Reconstructing International Law: Rethinking Legitimacy, Authority, and Inclusion

This pre-conference workshop invites participants to explore the role of critical methodologies to reimagine international law. The call to “reconstruct” international law reflects a growing recognition that its institutions, structures, doctrines, or assumptions require fundamental reassessment. From its origins in European imperial expansion to its contemporary entanglements with capitalist and neoliberal governance, many scholars have shown how international law has often functioned to sustain hierarchies of international power rather than to challenge them to create a more equal international order. The persistence of global inequality, ongoing colonial legacies, or the climate crisis, all demand critical engagement with international law’s foundational premises.

This workshop invites participants to explore the role of critical methodologies in shaping a new vision for international law.

Submission Details.

We welcome contributions from scholars, practitioners, and activists engaging with critical legal methodologies. Submissions may take traditional academic formats or adopt alternative, experimental forms of critical legal writing and praxis.