Call for Papers — Leiden Journal of International Law

The Leiden Journal of International Law has asked me to post the following call for papers:

Special Issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law (2008)

The Risks of International Law

Abstracts due 1 December 2007; Complete articles by 1 April 2008

The Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL) is now soliciting articles for a special issue of the LJIL to be dedicated to explorations of risk in international law and international legal theory. Led by the work of writers such as Ulrich Beck, Niklas Luhmann, Anthony Giddens and François Ewald, scholars across the humanities and social sciences have been engaged for the past few decades in increasingly prolific and divergent reflections upon the ways in which understandings of risk structure and inform contemporary experience and decision-making. In Issue 4 of Volume 21 of the LJIL (2008), the LJIL Editorial Board would like to bring together the work of a group of scholars working on such questions in relation to international law. How does international law project and traverse uncertainty and risk? How does international law structure risk-management and precautionary action? What are the implications for international law of the recent turn to risk in the area of security? What risks may be attendant upon international law’s particular risk appetites and risk aversions? What are or may yet be international lawyers’ distinctive contributions to contemporary “cultures” of risk? These are among the questions with which we anticipate contributors grappling with.

Contributors will be asked to prepare an article of approximately 10,000 words (including footnotes) for publication in the LJIL, consistent with the LJIL’s ‘Instructions for Contributors’. Those interested in contributing are requested to respond to this Call for Papers by email to managing editor Douwe Sikkema ( ljil@law.leidenuniv.nl) by 1 December 2007, attaching a 200-word abstract of the article you propose to contribute. We would then request full submissions by 1 April 2008. All contributions will be subject to peer review in accordance with the usual procedures of the LJIL. Please contact the LJIL Articles Editors with any questions: Fleur Johns ( f.johns@usyd.edu.au) and/or Wouter Werner ( w.werner@rechten.vu.nl).

Firmly established as one of Europe’s leading journals in the field, the Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL) provides a forum for two vital areas, namely international legal theory and international dispute settlement. It is unique in providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world’s most important international tribunals in The Hague (such as the ICJ, ICTY, ICC and others) and elsewhere, as well as examining new trends in international legal thinking. LJIL is essential reading for academics and practitioners who need to stay abreast of recent developments in these areas.

It sounds like an excellent opportunity to publish in one of Europe’s best international law journals. I hope our readers will consider submitting.