In This Issue

The Editorial in this issue looks back on the year in peer reviewing, with gratitude to all those colleagues who took on manuscript reviews, with some perplexity about the ongoing difficulties in peer reviewing, and with congratulations to our Peer Reviewer Prize winner. In addition, as is our custom in the period leading to the Holiday Season, we are publishing ‘good reads’ recommendations by our co-Editor in Chief. There is more to life than law alone!

This issue opens with three Afterwords to Antony Anghie’s Foreword, ‘Rethinking International Law: A TWAIL Retrospective,’ published in issue 34-1. Ratna Kapur reflects on the tension between critique and redemption in TWAIL’s engagement with human rights and argues that TWAIL, embracing subaltern epistemes, creates the possibility for transformative, alternative visions of human rights to counter the liberal hegemony. Arnulf Becker Lorca claims that, over the past three decades, TWAIL has successfully become part of international law’s mainstream. While ‘civilizing’ international law, TWAIL’s success also means that, according to Becker Lorca, new approaches are needed to account for more diverse and multifaceted Third World experiences irreducible to the unidirectional relationship of North-South oppression. In his Afterword, Andreas von Arnauld presents a more pluralist and complex picture of international law in the Western world and calls for building international law on international solidarity which transcends the simple North-South division to redress historical and contemporary injustices.

The Articles section of this issue features two contributions. Hanna Eklund delves into archival materials of the Treaty of Rome and reveals the colonial origin of the European Union through a close reading of key terms such as ‘associated countries and territories’ and ‘peoples of Europe’. In his article, Joris Larik observes that the UK’s trade continuity program significantly replicates EU trade agreements, which retains favourable trade terms and demonstrates the internalization of EU norms by the UK. The trade continuity program, Larik argues, should be deemed a success for both the UK and the EU.

This issue continues with the last installment of the ‘Year-Long Symposium: Re-Theorizing International Organizations Law: Reconsiderations, Hidden Gems, and New Perspectives’. Chen Yifeng’s contribution features Rao Geping, a leading figure in international organizations law in China. Positioning Rao’s academic contributions in the broader background of China’s integration into the world economy, Chen shows a unique disciplinary trajectory of international organizations law in a post-revolutionary China. Kristina Daugirdas revisits Dame Rosalyn Higgins’ trailblazing work on international organizations law and considers the lasting significance of her methodological innovation and policy-oriented approach.  

This symposium ends with an epilogue by the convenors, Devika Hovell, Jan Klabbers and Guy Fiti Sinclair. Summing up the two symposia on international organizations law published in EJIL, the convenors observe that, despite a variety of portraits of scholars and their invaluable insights, there have yet to emerge alternative theories to replace functionalism.

Our Roaming Charges for this issue, contributed by Michelle Burgis-Kasthala and Marya al-Hindi, offers a telling postscript to the article by Burgis-Kasthala published in our 33-4 issue.   

This issue continues with the Critical Review of Governance rubric. Anna Sophia Tiedeke and Martin Fertmann look into the Oversight Board created by the social media platform Meta and the Board’s interactions with Meta and international human rights institutions when interpreting human rights. In his contribution, André Nollkaemper argues that relieving the suffering of animals in industrial meat production requires complex and fundamental normative and institutional changes involving broad issues such as global trade, health, biodiversity and climate change. This section ends with a contribution by Armin Steinbach, who dissects various policy objectives the EU pursues under the buzzword ‘strategic autonomy’ and assesses their compatibility with EU and international law.

The Legal/Illegal rubric of this issue focuses on the freezing of the Russian Central Bank’s assets. Anton Moiseienko and Ron van der Horst disagree over whether the executive freezing violates state immunity, but they agree that these sanctions can be justified as countermeasures.

The Last Page features a poem by Fernando Pessoa (writing as Ricardo Reis), ‘How Great a Sadness and Bitterness’.