Brölmann, C.

d' Aspremont, J.

Lythgoe, G.

English

Online databases and repositories appear to be the new golden calf of law publishers which have invested a lot of money in these new academic products. Some publishers secured an early lead position in this market while others are now catching up. From the perspective of the academics that contribute to the developments of such tools, the market still appears to be in development and below saturation. Yet, it cannot be excluded that the continued development of databases ends up cannibalizing publishers’ other, more traditional, products, such as reference books and law reports. This is however a debate for another day. For now, it suffices to note that users — whether students, researchers, practitioners — seem to value international law databases; at least as long as their institution can afford to provide them with access thereto.It is against this backdrop that the recent launch of Oxford International Organizations (OXIO) – which was celebrated on the occasion of a well attended event hosted by the Graduate Institute in Geneva – raises the question of what epistemic and practical gaps which this new database of documents and annotations specifically dedicated to international organizations can potentially fill. This is why, in the following paragraphs, we inquire into some of the disciplinary assumptions upon which the development of such a product rests, especially in relation to the law of international organizations, as well as the concrete benefits which users can draw from OXIO

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UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl)UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents?d' Aspremont, J.; Brölmann, C.; Lythgoe, G.Publication date2018Document VersionFinal published versionLicenseUnspecifiedLink to publicationCitation for published version (APA):d' Aspremont, J. (Author), Brölmann, C. (Author), & Lythgoe, G. (Author). (2018). Do WeNeed Another Database of International Law Documents?. Web publication or website, EJIL:Talk!. https://www.ejiltalk.org/do-we-need-another-database-of-international-law-documents/#more-15981General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s)and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an opencontent license (like Creative Commons).Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, pleaselet the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the materialinaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letterto: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Youwill be contacted as soon as possible.Download date:10 Mar 2023Published on March 12, 2018 Author: Jean d'Aspremont , Catherine Brölmann and Gail LythgoePublished on March 12, 2018ejiltalk.org/do-we-need-another-database-of-international-law-documents/Online databases and repositories appear to be the new golden calf of law publishers which haveinvested a lot of money in these new academic products. Some publishers secured an early leadposition in this market while others are now catching up. From the perspective of the academicsthat contribute to the developments of such tools, the market still appears to be in developmentand below saturation. Yet, it cannot be excluded that the continued development of databasesends up cannibalizing publishers’ other, more traditional, products, such as reference books andlaw reports. This is however a debate for another day. For now, it suffices to note that users —whether students, researchers, practitioners — seem to value international law databases; atleast as long as their institution can afford to provide them with access thereto.It is against this backdrop that the recent launch of Oxford International Organizations (OXIO) –which was celebrated on the occasion of a well attended event hosted by the Graduate Institute inGeneva – raises the question of what epistemic and practical gaps which this new database ofdocuments and annotations specifically dedicated to international organizations can potentially fill.This is why, in the following paragraphs, we inquire into some of the disciplinary assumptionsupon which the development of such a product rests, especially in relation to the law ofinternational organizations (1), as well as the concrete benefits which users can draw from OXIO(2).Consolidating the Law of International Organizations?The creation of a new database specifically dedicated to the law and practice of internationalorganizations inevitably raises a number of foundational and conceptual questions. Indeed, whilethere may be a general consensus that international organizations, first created at the end of the20th century, have come to proliferate since 1945 and today play an increasing role ininternational society, the actual extent of this role and the implications for international law remainthe object of intense debate. For instance, it is not self-evident that there is such a clearly definedand epistemologically coherent area of law like ‘the law of international organizations’, distinctfrom both general international law and from individual institutional and treaty regimes. Moreover,the way in which the law and practice of international organizations is approached and theorizedvaries greatly. For some, the primary question and aim of any inquiry into the law of internationalorganizations is to focus on the institutional arrangements and procedures of specificorganizations; or on possible similarities between such regimes. Others would seek to extractgeneral legal constraints or common institutional patterns with a view to postulating generalprinciples applicable to all organizations. Still others would focus on the effect of generalinternational law in its application to organizations as ‘global actors’. In this context, it is notsurprising that the study of the law and practice of international organizations has grown everDo We Need Another Database of International Law Documents? https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/WJPRUV1 of 6 8/9/2019, 5:58 PMmore multifaceted, or arguably, cacophonic. And yet, although OXIO can itself be co-constitutiveof the field and of the variety of understandings thereof, its creation does not prejudge thequestion of whether there exists a coherent ‘field’ like the law of international organizations. OXIOsimilarly can accommodate the contestations of the epistemological autonomy of the field as wellas the various perspectives from which the law and practice of international organizations areexamined, discussed and criticized.True to say, the mission of OXIO is not without paradox. On the one hand, it capitalizes on thecurrent popularity of the law and practice of international organizations among researchers andpractitioners. In fact, the production of new articles, research monographs on the law and practiceof international organizations, as well as the updates to the field’s foundational textbookscontinues unabated. OXIO reinforces and consolidates this scholarly vitality and proliferation. Onthe other hand, OXIO is launched at a time in which support for the field’s main object of study,i.e. international organizations, seems to be plummeting to an all-time low inside and outsideacademic circles and across disciplines. Indeed, while for a long time organizations were seen asthe embodiment of progress and a cosmopolitanism of sorts – not least due to the idea that theallocation of power and authority along functional rather than territorial lines seemed to mitigatemany of the political and theoretical challenges of international affairs –, the 21st century has nowfound in international organizations the cause for many of the problems in this world.In the light of the foregoing, one may wonder whether the omnifariousness of the study of the lawand legal practice of international organizations coupled with the plummeting popularity ofinternational organizations in political reality render the creation of a new database specificallydedicated to international organizations moot and futile? We think the opposite view is warranted.A field that bespeaks conceptual diversity and concentrates its efforts on the actions of elusiveand sometimes contested global actors can only benefit from a new tool, one that is intended tobe a central repository of the legal practice pertaining to international organizations. In particular,it is argued here that a database like OXIO, by centralizing the law and practice of internationalorganizations in one single database, can help turn the ‘cacophony’ into a healthy pluralism andconstitute a platform for a variety of distinct perspectives on the law and practice of internationalorganizations. At a time when international organizations are contested, OXIO can provideresearchers with innovative instruments to explore, unearth, report, reflect on, evaluate, justify,rehabilitate, repudiate, and criticize what international organizations do and where they stand aspolitical and legal (f)actors in the global community.It is with this in mind that OXIO has been designed to be not only a resource for the documents ofinternational organizations, but also a substantive repository of thoughts. OXIO is therefore builtto be a database which captures, and comments upon, the role of international organizations,their contribution to norm-creation and law-making in various substantive areas of internationallaw, as well as the field of international institutional law in particular. Accordingly, OXIO does notonly contain resolutions and decisions of organizations, draft normative texts prepared within theframework of organizations, and constituent instruments of organizations, but also court decisionsrelevant for the institutional law of organizations, as well as the occasional treaty to which anorganization is a party where this brings light to issues of institutional law. As a result, OXIOarguably has the potential to offer unprecedented overview and access to the actual practice oforganizations while also revitalizing fundamental questions of theory and doctrine. Ultimately,OXIO enables a field caught between disciplinary cacophony and growing contestation in practiceDo We Need Another Database of International Law Documents? https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/WJPRUV2 of 6 8/9/2019, 5:58 PMof its object of study, to consolidate itself through new reflexive and investigatory tools.What do users gain from OXIO?The rest of this post provides some snapshots of how OXIO accommodates the variety of distinctperspectives on the law and practice of international organizations as well as the contestation ofinternational organizations, while also being a repository for practice, theory and doctrine.Each headnote contains a concise Summary of the document, relevant Background information,important Analysis and a helpful section which examines the Impact of the document oninternational law and international affairs.Perhaps an obvious contribution expected of OXIO are its commentaries on the constituentdocuments of international organizations. This has never before been undertaken in such asystematic and therefore useful manner. An exemplary sample of this is the Headnote on theStatute of the European Investment Bank which, in addition to reporting on a little examinedconstituent document, looks at the relationship of the EIB with other European institutions.(Author: Amy Dunne)OXIO seeks to comment upon the relations between major international organizations too, suchas the United Nations and the International Criminal Court which, it turns out, emphasizes a lackof a hierarchy between the two bodies. Such an agreement underlies many of the importantissues of today, including the referral of the Darfur situation by the UN Security Council.Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents? https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/WJPRUV3 of 6 8/9/2019, 5:58 PM  (Author: Amy Dunne)Significant historical documents feature in OXIO, including this headnote on the Statute ofJerusalem. It contains crucial insights into a continuing political situation nd it provides a snapshot of the thinking in the 1950s regarding the potential for a solution.(Author: Michael Lancaster Steiner)OXIO looks at issues that would be typically classified as institutional law, including the followingheadnote analysing issues to do with membership and suspension in the situation of Egyptfollowing a military coup.Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents? https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/WJPRUV4 of 6 8/9/2019, 5:58 PM(Author: Işil Aral)International organisations contribute enormously to ‘bread and butter’ issues of international lawsuch as international peace and security. There are an increasing number of actors on the scenewith roles in maintaining peace and ensuring security, which at times has led to conflicting legalinterpretations. An important document on this issue is the ECOWAS Protocol on a Mechanismfor peacekeeping and security on the continent of Africa. The following headnote examines themechanism and situates the debate in the context of Chapter VII of the UN Charter.Author (Zied Ayari)Lastly, OXIO looks at issues which are dominated by specialised international organizations andexperts, while not always addressed in, or fully appreciated by, mainstream international legalscholarship. These International Health Regulations are just one illuminating example of theincreasing powers of international organizations in the field of global health law.Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents? https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/WJPRUV5 of 6 8/9/2019, 5:58 PM(Author: Suzanne You Zhou)ConclusionDo we need another database of international law documents as the one introduced here?Irrespective of one’s self-perceived interest in the practice, theory and doctrine about internationalorganizations and the contestation thereof, taking a look at the database – which has openaccess until July 2018 – may be the simplest way to answer that question.Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents? https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/WJPRUV6 of 6 8/9/2019, 5:58 PM

Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents?

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Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents?

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