Gaja, Giorgio --- "Foreword" [2019] ELECD 2553; in Ciampi, Annalisa (ed), "History and International Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) ix

Book Title: History and International Law

Editor(s): Ciampi, Annalisa

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Foreword

Author(s): Gaja, Giorgio

Number of pages: 4

Extract:

Foreword
Giorgio Gaja

The present collection of essays intends to address both the impact of history
on international law and the contribution that international law makes to
history. The subject is clearly huge and may be considered only under some
limited aspects. These are mainly from the areas of international human rights
law and international humanitarian law, but, notwithstanding the absence of an
essay devoted to methodology, the book offers reflections that cover a wider
ground.
This is in particular true of the introductory study by Rolf Einar Fife. He
examines some significant moments in the development of international law.
The stress is on the influence played by certain international lawyers on the
elaboration and consolidation of some significant concepts. His first example
is taken from the principle of the stability of frontiers, as applied in Latin
America and in Africa and more recently in Europe. He then examines the
elaboration of the concept of the self-determination of peoples and finally
the emergence of the concept of a supranational organ (High Authority) with
regard to the European Communities and later the European Union. The
references to these developments are meant to illustrate how concepts may
influence the course of history.
Stefan Troebst's essay is dedicated to the impact that events and scholarly
work in Eastern Europe had on the development of international law. He
considers in particular the so-called `Brezhnev Doctrine' on intervention
and the evolution of practice through the application of the principle that
intervention should ...