2015 ANZSIL Conference: International Law-Making at a Crossroads: Participants, Processes and Principles

The 23rd Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law will take place from Thursday 2 July 2015 to Saturday 4 July 2015 at Victoria University of Wellington, in Wellington, New Zealand.

Conference overview

The expansion and fragmentation of international law has brought a new complexity to international law-making.

Today, there is an unprecedented diversification of actors, processes and fora involved in the creation of international standards, with government organisations, non-state actors and other networks are increasingly involved in the norm developing process.

While certain forms of international collaboration are deliberately aimed at facilitating international agreement without establishing legally binding obligations, such agreements achieve a remarkable degree of compliance by states.

Theories of international law-making no longer focus only on the fixed sources of law, but also explore the generation of law as an ongoing process of communication, interpretation, and narration.

These innovative efforts at engaging in and making sense of legal diplomacy raise significant questions about the legitimacy, accountability, effectiveness, and nature of international law.

Keynote speakers

• Professor Douglas Arner, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong
• Sir Kenneth Keith, Victoria University of Wellington
• Professor Mary Keyes, Griffith Law School, Griffith University
• Professor Gerry Simpson, Kenneth Bailey Professor of Law, University of Melbourne