At the time when this Preface is written, the foundations of international law are shattered in a way which seemed unimaginable only a few weeks before. The invasion of Ukraine ordered by Russia’s President Putin on 24 February 2022, and his government’s shallow justifications based on pure power-politics as well as the overt ambition to overthrow a democratic government, raise fundamental questions of the legitimacy of international law and of the delicate relationships between democracy and sovereignty within the international system. When we developed the overarching research question of this book, and when all its chapters were drafted and written, inquiring into the legitimacy of international law still seemed to many a largely theoretical exercise, driven by academics interested in a deeper understanding of their subject, namely the normative underpinnings of the international order and how they changed over time. In fact, it was not and is less than ever a speculative, purely academic enterprise.
While we acknowledge that some of the propositions presented in the contributions to the colloquium of Tutzing in September 2020 and published in this book may seem to stem from a time when the world of international law seemed relatively stable in comparison to today’s uncertainties, with some dozens of states being reluctant to condemn a flagrant violation of the most basic rules of the United Nations Charter and jus contra bellum, we are firmly convinced that the tremendous challenges which the Russian aggression against Ukraine present to the international order, need to be addressed at a fundamental level. Against this backdrop, reflecting on possible strategies of legitimation that go beyond the existing state-centered approaches has become more pertinent, not less. In our view, the approach suggested here, which consists in comparing and, where possible, merging modern and traditional concepts of legitimation, continues to be of utmost relevance. This is backed by the fact that highly relevant current topics such as big data, climate change or investment protection demand new answers also with regard to the legitimation of international law.
The book is the result of a multilateral exercise in the sense that it lives off of the exchange between scholars from various countries which brings together different legal traditions and different intellectual approaches to international law. It is also inter-generational in the sense that it brings together renowned and experienced scholars as well as younger researchers. It is multilingual in the sense that three languages can be used, English, French, and German while the contributions are written either in English or French. Such is the spirit of the French-German colloquium taking place every other year within the
This book would not have been possible without the generous support of many institutions and persons. We thank the German Research Fund and the Université Franco-Allemande/Deutsch-französische Hochschule for supporting a German-French forum in which we had an intense discussion on drafts of the contributions, and the Politische Akademie in Tutzing, which hosted parts of the participants under difficult conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic. lmu Munich and the Universität der Bundeswehr organized the forum consisting of two hybrid manifestations, a workshop for younger researchers and the biennial colloquium of the German and French Societies of International Law, with the support of the iredies (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Sorbonne Law School). We are very grateful to the organizational and technical support of Cathrine Crämer (lmu Munich) and David Schmidt (Universität der Bundeswehr Munich) both during the conference in Tutzing and when preparing the publication of the book. We are also indebted towards Catherine Botoko and Paul Heckler (iredies) for their support during the editing process, as well as towards Cornelia Schäffer (Universität der Bundeswehr München) for the preparation of the index.
We are currently living through truly dire days. It is, nevertheless, our sincere hope that the contributions to this book open new paths for creative thinking on the role and relevance of international law. Such perspectives are urgently needed in order to renew and strengthen the fundamental values enshrined in the UN Charter, which are peace, humanity and respect for the rule of law.
Daniel-Erasmus Khan Evelyne Lagrange
Stefan Oeter Christian Walter
Munich, Hamburg and Paris, 9 March 2022
