Call for submissions - The Cambridge International Law Journal for its Volume 12(2).
The Editorial Board of the Cambridge
International Law Journal is pleased to invite submissions for
Volume 12(2) to be published in December 2023 on the theme ‘Language in
International Law’.
The Board welcomes articles
(6,000–12,000 words, inclusive of footnotes) and case notes that engage with
current themes in international law, as well as book reviews on recently
published works.
This issue will build upon the 12th
Annual Cambridge International Law Conference (24–25 April 2023), but is open
to submissions from all authors including those who are not presenting or
participating in the Conference.
Language is essential to international
law. International law terms and phrases are regularly invoked to specific
ends, extending their operation beyond legal rules to a form of discourse:
states initiate military operations using the justifications of ‘genocide’
prevention, ‘humanitarian’ aid, and the ‘responsibility to protect’; claim
‘discrimination’ in trade; and operationalise the language of ‘sovereignty’ to
avoid obligations. While the multilingual translation and interpretation of
legal texts is essential to the practice of law, exact semantic transposition
of concepts is often unattainable, and undermines both participation in, and
the efficacy of, international law. Language itself is pertinent to the
expression of identity and can render groups vulnerable to discrimination and
exclusion from the public sphere. Big data has become a new language in
international law, heavily relied on in international efforts to prevent crime,
and as a basis for regulation. Altogether, language remains the often
unacknowledged core of international law, relevant not only to treaty interpretation
but to the understanding of the discipline as a whole. We invite contributions
on any aspect of this broad theme.
All submissions are subject to
double-blind peer review. The Journal's Editorial Board reviews all pieces, and
select articles are sent to the Academic Review Board, which consists of
distinguished international law scholars and practitioners. Submissions can be
made at any time. Articles submitted by 12 May 2023 will
be considered for Volume 12 Issue 2.
For full submission instructions, please
visit www.elgaronline.com/cilj.
Submissions may be made for Volume
12(2) here.
Alternatively, blog articles, assessed
on a rolling basis, may be submitted here.
