TY - JOUR
T1 - Modest International Law
T2 - COVID-19, International Legal Responses, and Depoliticization
AU - Quintana, Francisco-José
AU - Uriburu, Justina
PY - 2020/10/20
Y1 - 2020/10/20
N2 - In this Essay, we analyze two sets of international legal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: the academic discussion on state responsibility; and the deployment of international law as a tool for resistance. We argue that both approaches made significant contributions but concealed the role of the discipline in the production of the conditions that led to the pandemic and its unequal impact. These interventions reflect a “modest international law”; an understanding of the discipline that hinders change and is ethically weak. We contend that repoliticization can help reclaim international law's ambition and responsibility.
AB - In this Essay, we analyze two sets of international legal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: the academic discussion on state responsibility; and the deployment of international law as a tool for resistance. We argue that both approaches made significant contributions but concealed the role of the discipline in the production of the conditions that led to the pandemic and its unequal impact. These interventions reflect a “modest international law”; an understanding of the discipline that hinders change and is ethically weak. We contend that repoliticization can help reclaim international law's ambition and responsibility.
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2020.65
U2 - 10.1017/ajil.2020.65
DO - 10.1017/ajil.2020.65
M3 - Article
SN - 0002-9300
VL - 114
SP - 687
EP - 697
JO - American Journal of International Law
JF - American Journal of International Law
IS - 4
ER -