The Individual in International Law

This book explores how international law has accommodated human individuals, and how individual status, rights, and obligations have become denser and more important in the international legal system. The ‘humanisation’ of international law is analysed in different historical periods and from various theoretical perspectives. The book is divided into two sections, with contributions from leading experts. The first section focuses on the historical evolution of international law, exploring how the interests of individuals have shaped the development of the legal system from antiquity to 1945. The second section investigates ius positivism and ius naturalism, Marxism, TWAIL, feminism, global law, global constitutionalism, law and economics, and legal anthropology. In addition to challenging traditional assumptions about the role of individuals in international law, its contributors advance the study of the periods and paradigms they examine, from the role of individuals in international law in antiquity to global law. The book elucidates how the rights, interests, obligations, and responsibilities of human individuals have shaped international norms and regimes. It examines how international law is responding to critique against the increased salience of individual actors and participants. It suggests how international law can embrace post-anthropocentrism in an era of deep ecological and technical challenge. The historical chapters provide a counterpoint to State-centric readings of international law’s history. The theoretical chapters introduce and further the positivism/naturalism debate, critical approaches, and interdisciplinary investigations. The book is likely to stimulate further research on the humanisation of new fields ranging from the ius contra bellum to climate law.