LCIL Friday Lecture:'Linguistic rationality as discursive commitment: rethinking international legal normativity' by Prof Fuad Zarbiyev

Lecture summary: The traditional theory of normativity based on the distinction between rights and obligations channeled through recognized sources of international law and norms of behavior set forth in formally non-binding instruments cannot account for the practical impact of the latter. Building on the works of Robert Brandom, this talk frames international law as a discursive practice grounded in linguistic rationality and argues that commitments and entitlements that such a practice entails and the difference they make in the deontic score of the participants in the practice offer a more persuasive account of normativity in contemporary international law.

Fuad Zarbiyev is an Associate Professor of international law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He holds a PhD in International Law (summa cum laude) from the Graduate Institute, an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and the Diploma of the Hague Academy of International Law. Previously, he was a Global Research Fellow at New York University School of Law and worked as an associate attorney and counsel with the New York office of the international law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP. He is the recipient of the James Crawford prize awarded for his article entitled ‘Judicial Activism in International Law’ published in Journal of International Dispute Settlement. His research interests include the politics of international law, the sociology of international law and institutions, transnational regulatory processes, critical theory and post-structuralist discourse analysis as applied to international law, international judicial behavior, investment arbitration, and treaty interpretation.

The Lauterpacht Centre Friday lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press. 

A sandwich lunch is available for all attendees from 12.30 pm in the Old Library.

Numbers are limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Please note the lecture programme is subject to revision without notice.