Interference in Sovereign Affairs and the Discursive Economy of International Law - (Developments in International Law) by Frédéric Mégret

About the Book

Interference in sovereign affairs is fundamentally interrogating what international law means by sovereignty and prompting a rethink about how states should relate to their exterior and what is actually still theirs to decide.

Book Synopsis

Interference in sovereign affairs is seemingly everywhere but nowhere at the same time. Whether it is pressure on or corruption of public officials, conditionality in development assistance, criticism of one's human rights record, psychological or propaganda operations, instrumentalization of diasporas, international organization supervision or meddling diplomats, the phenomenon is as amorphous as it is diffuse. But what if it was the lens that we use to capture interference that was the problem? How do the tools we use in international law blind us to the reality of certain phenomena? The urgency of understanding interference on its terms has never been greater, and it requires nothing less than a reimagining of the sort of discursive investments on which international law rests.

About the Author

Frédéric Mégret is a Full Professor and holds the Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law at the Faculty of Law, McGill University. His work lies at the intersection of international law, legal theory and history, and human rights.