The Evolution and Transformation of International Law: Developments in International Law, from the Peace of Westphalia to the Post-United Nations Charter

The year 2020 will be remembered as the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted global business activities and almost brought the world economy to a halt. The virus knows no borders and no sovereign state can contain its spread alone. This pandemic underscored the fragility of the international legal order and created an opportunity for academics and policy makers to reimagine a new order that transcends the system of sovereign states as conceived at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and by the United Nations in the 20th century.

This book attempts to do what no other book has done previously: It examines the continuing relevance of the Westphalia and United Nations legal orders in light of the transformation of international law. It does not criticize them but rather asks how we can rethink and reconfigure the international legal order to make it more effective to respond to the global challenges of the 21st century: Climate change, terrorism, failed states, internal armed conflicts, human rights violation, political repression, cyberwarfare, human insecurity and the problem of illegal migration and refugees. It ultimately reimagines a post-pandemic international legal order as capable of addressing future global challenges and improving the human condition.