Sociolegal Methods in International Law
September 4 - 5, 2008
A workshop to explore the role of sociolegal methodologies in describing and defining
the contours of international law
SCHEDULE |
PARTICIPANTS |
AIRPORT |
PITT CAMPUS |
International law seems to be in a perpetual identity crisis. Indeed, it is difficult to reach agreement on what international law is, and even on whether it is law at all. Its content is composed of a mélange of treaties, agreements, declarations, norms, and practices with varying levels of specificity, formality, enforcement, and acceptance, of "soft law" that at times congeals into "hard law" and of hard law that not infrequently languishes unnoticed until soft law brings it into play.
While some areas of international law claim universal or near-universal validity as a defining characteristic, in practice, the legitimacy and role of international law varies considerably amongst different regional, national and sub-national settings. Legal scholars have agonized over the discrepancy between theory and practice and between the rapid expansion of international legal norms and the lagging enforcement of those norms; they have worked to develop models of how international law infiltrates legal systems and how it is used by state and non-state actors in ways less direct than formal enforcement.
Amongst legal scholars who study international law, attention has recently turned to empirical studies that attempt to demonstrate the real world effects (or lack thereof) of international law. With this increase in empirical work, legal scholars are debating the relative efficacy of various quantitative and qualitative methodologies in developing empirical descriptions of international law practice. At the same time, there has been an upsurge in interest in international law, and particularly in international human rights, amongst legal anthropologists.
Against this backdrop, this workshop will explore the role of sociolegal methodologies in describing and defining the contours of international law. It brings together legal anthropologists, legal scholars, and others studying international law from various disciplinary perspectives to discuss their research in international law and their use of various methodologies and theoretical frameworks. The participants include specialists in international human rights law, international criminal law, international environmental law, and other areas. The methodological questions to be addressed are cross-cutting, concerning the role of methodology in shaping our understanding of international law and the challenges international law creates for sociolegal methodologies.
| This workshop was sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law , with additional support from the Center for International Legal Education, the University Center for International Studies, and the University of Pittsburgh's Anthropology Department. |
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Thursday September 4 4:00 - 5:30 Introductory roundtable
7:00 Dinner at Casbah |
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8:30 - 9:00 Continental breakfast available 9:00 - 10:30 Second roundtable: Sociolegal methods
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break 11:00 - 12:30 Roundtable 3: International law as subject
12:30 -1 :30 Lunch 1:30 - 3:00 Roundtable 4: Practical methodological problems
3:00 - 3:30 Coffee break
3:30 - 4:30 Final roundtable: Identifying themes and conclusions
4:30 - 5:00 Free time
5:00 - 6:15 Andy Warhol Museum "Good Fridays" event. 6:30 Dinner at Mt. Washington restaurant |
WORKSHOP COORDINATOR & PARTICIPANT:
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Elena Baylis |
WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS:
| Angela Banks Assistant Professor of Law William & Mary School of Law ambank@wm.edu |
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| David Barnard Professor of Medicine Adjunct Professor of Law University of Pittsburgh barnard@pitt.edu |
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| Paul Schiff Berman Dean and Foundation Professor of Law Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Arizona State University Paul.s.berman@asu.edu |
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| Rebecca Bratspies Associate Professor CUNY School of Law bratspies@mail.law.cuny.edu |
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| Kamari Maxine Clarke Associate Professor of Annthropology Yale University and Research Scientist Yale Law School kamari.clarke@yale.edu |
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| Jason Cross, JD PhD Candidate Cultural Anthropology Duke University Jason.cross@law.duke.edu |
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| Laura Dickinson Foundation Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law, Arizona State University Laura.dickinson@law.uconn.edu |
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Mark Goodale |
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| Rebecca Hardin Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology & School of Natural Resources and Environment University of Michigan rdhardin@umich.edu |
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| Robert Hayden Director, Russian & East European Studies Center Professor of Anthropology University of Pittsburgh rhayden@pitt.edu |
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| Peggy McGuinness Associate Professor of Law University of Missouri School of Law mcguinnessm@missouri.edu |
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| Sally Engle Merry Director, Program on Law and Society Professor, Department of Anthropology New York University Sally.merry@nyu.edu |
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Hari Osofsky |
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| Teemu Ruskola Professor of Law Emory University Teemu.ruskola@emory.edu |
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| Galit Sarfaty Research Fellow Program on the Legal Profession Harvard Law School gsarfaty@law.harvard.edu |
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| Jenia Turner Assistant Professor of Law Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law Jenia@mail.smu.edu |
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THE PITT CAMPUS
The University of Pittsburgh is in Oakland, a lively neighborhood with easy bus access to rest of the city and even to the airport for just a couple of dollars. Oakland has three museums: military - art - natural history, an arboretum, a huge park, lots of restaurants, and interesting small shops.
