A Farewell to Fragmentation: Reassertion and Convergence in International Law

Fragmentation has been much discussed as a threat to international law as a legal system. This book contends that the fragmentation of international law is far exceeded by its convergence, as international bodies find ways to account for each other and the interactions of emerging sub-fields. Reasserting its role as the 'principal judicial organ of the United Nations', the International Court of Justice has ensured that the centre of international law can and does hold. This process has strengthened a trend towards the reunification of international law. In order to explore this process, this book looks at fragmentation and convergence from the point of view of the centre of the International Court and of the position of other courts and tribunals. Featuring contributions by leading international lawyers from a range of backgrounds, this volume proposes both a new take and the last word on the fragmentation debate in international law.

Mads Andenas is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary Detention, and the Chair of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which reports to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly. He has held senior academic appointments in the United Kingdom, including as Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London and Director of the Centre of European Law at King's College London.

Eirik Bjorge is Shaw Foundation Junior Research Fellow at Jesus College, University of Oxford. Eirik has taught at Oxford and Sciences Po, Paris. He is the author of The Evolutionary Interpretation of Treaties (2014) and a co-editor of Landmark Cases in Public International Law (with Cameron Miles, 2017).