Call for Papers: 15th CILJ Conference- Reimagining International Law: Critical, Regional, and Trans-Disciplinary Perspectives, 23–24 April 2026
(In-person, Faculty of Law of the University of Cambridge, 23–24 April 2026)
About the Conference
The Cambridge International Law Journal (‘CILJ’) is pleased to invite submissions of abstracts of papers to be considered for presentations at the 15th Annual Conference of the CILJ. The Conference will take place at the Faculty of Law of the University of Cambridge on 23–24 April 2026. The topic of the Conference is ‘Reimagining International Law: Critical, Regional, and Trans-Disciplinary Perspectives’.
The Conference encourages the broad exploration of various sub-themes, including but not limited to:
- Examining evolving conceptions and critiques of international human rights, and questioning their effectiveness, legitimacy, and claims to universality in a period of global uncertainty and deepening inequality;
- Interrogating the changing nature of conflict and the (in)adequacies of international humanitarian law to address contemporary forms of violence, peace, and security;
- Exploring the responsibilities and limits of international criminal law in addressing atrocities, accountability gaps, and selective justice within a fast-shifting geopolitical climate;
- Evaluating international law’s responses to the climate crisis after thirty years of the UNFCCC COP—questioning whether multilateralism has delivered, whether existing frameworks adequately protect local and Indigenous rights, and what alternative models of climate justice and reparative governance might yet emerge;
- Revisiting the political economy of international law, and analysing how trade, sanctions, and development regimes—amidst the retrenchment of developmental aid and the resurgence of trade barriers—entrench or address global inequality;
- Assessing the preparedness of international legal frameworks for the next global public health crisis and drawing lessons from COVID-19 on solidarity, sovereignty, and the right to health;
- Re-examining global efforts to rein in artificial intelligence governance and identifying transformative opportunities to reshape global technology regulation, accountability, and ethics;
- Reimagining the academic landscape of international law and mapping emergent interdisciplinary fields and methodologies that seek to move beyond formalism and engage with the lived realities of communities from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds; and
- Analysing the dynamics among public international law, regionalism, and transnationalism—questioning whether diffusion signals pluralism or fragmentation in the international legal order.
