Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Discussion: The Future of International Organization

This Friday, March 10, 2017, the American Branch of the International Law Association (United Nations Law Committee), the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (International Law Committee and United Nations Committee), the American Society of International Law (International Organizations Interest Group), the Fletcher Club of New York, and Oxford University Press are sponsoring a discussion on "The Future of International Organization," in New York City. Panelists include Mona Khalil (Independent Diplomat), Anjali Dayal (Fordham Univ.), Thomas G. Weiss (CUNY Graduate Center), and Ian Hurd (Northwestern Univ.), Ian Johnstone (Tufts Univ.), and me (the three co-editors of The Oxford Handbook of International Organizations). The program (with a registration link) is here. My particular thanks to Christiane Ahlborn and Bart Smit Duijzentkunst, the co-chairs of the UN Law Committeee of the ABILA, for organizing the discussion. Here's the idea:
Virtually every important question of public policy today involves an international organization. From security to trade to intellectual property to health policy and beyond, governments interact with international organizations in almost everything they do. Yet after decades of progressive institutionalization, the tide seems to be turning. In Africa, states are withdrawing from the International Criminal Court. In Europe, an “ever closer Union” seems a distant ideal. And the new leadership in the United States has signalled deep scepticism about the value of all international organizations. Is this the beginning of the end of international organization? What role will international institutions play in the changing geopolitical landscape of the 21st century? Please join us for a discussion with the co-editors and contributors to The Oxford Handbook of International Organizations to explore these and other pressing questions on the future of international organization.