Bowring, Bill --- "Critical legal theory and international law" [2019] ELECD 1691; in Christodoulidis, Emilios; Dukes, Ruth; Goldoni, Marco (eds), "Research Handbook on Critical Legal Theory" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 495

Book Title: Research Handbook on Critical Legal Theory

Editor(s): Christodoulidis, Emilios; Dukes, Ruth; Goldoni, Marco

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 26

Section Title: Critical legal theory and international law

Author(s): Bowring, Bill

Number of pages: 14

Abstract/Description:

‘Critical legal theory’ has generated a vast and diverse English-language scholarly literature. This is in part because of its unusual eclecticism and heterogeneity, and in consequence it is very hard to pin down. So this short entry does not propose a complete and detailed overview of the impact of CLS on international law, or anything like it. Familiar landmarks will make their appearance, hopefully with new perspectives, and in context. But the aspect which interests me in particular is the noticeable disjuncture between two worlds: that of heterodox legal scholarship, and that of radical international lawyering. I explore the evident disjuncture, or dis-connect, between academic writing and legal practice in radical or progressive approaches to international law. I conclude with some final comments on that broken relationship, with an emphasis on what two theorists, Kennedy and Koskenniemi, have said about the practitioners.