The Common Interest in International Law

What lies in the common interest of the international community? How are those common interests protected? What is the role of States and of the international community? The Common Interest in International Law provides answers to these key questions that international law is faced with in times of globalization, humanization, and climate change. The book looks at the protection of common interests and shows how international law is progressively moving away from a system based on territorial sovereignty to a system based on shared responsibilities among States and other actors. The areas covered range from human rights law, international environmental law, and international security law, to international economic law and international litigation. The objective is to investigate whether and how international law, which is historically State-centric and consensual, can protect the common interests of humanity, when such common interests can only be safeguarded with the commitment and cooperation of all State and non-State actors. The issue of collective interests is subject to numerous current discourses in international law. This volume ties these together to offer a new - or renewed - understanding of 'common interest,' reflective of contemporary challenges in international law. The concept of 'common interest' suggests that more is at stake in international law than the individual self-interests of States. Such notion might hold the key to transforming international law away from the dominance of sovereignty into a system which truly serves the interest of the community, including all relevant actors. (Series: Law and Cosmopolitan Values - Vol. 5) [Subject: International Law]

Wolfgang Benedek currently holds a position as Head of Institute of International Law and International Relations and as Director of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy of the University of Graz. His main research interests are in the fields of human rights, human security and the regulation of the internet as well as international economic law where he has a focus on the WTO and Global Governance. He also has a specific interest in South-Eastern Europe and Africa. He has been involved in several research projects funded by national and European research foundations. He is the executive editor of the European Yearbook on Human Rights. He is teaching at all levels in international law and human rights law, international economic and development law, human rights in the Balkans, human security and the governance of the information society. He is long-time chair of the NGO World University Service (WUS) Austria.

Koen De Feyter is the Chair of International Law at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), Faculty of Law, where he initiated the research group on law and development. He is the Convenor of the International research network on 'Localising human rights', that includes socio-legal field work in China, DRC and India.

Matthias C. Kettemann, LL.M. (Harvard) is post-doc fellow at the Cluster of Excellence „Normative Orders” at the University of Frankfurt/Main and lecturer at the Institute of International Law and International Relations, University of Graz. Matthias studied law in Graz and Geneva and was Fulbright and Boas Scholar at Harvard Law School. He has worked for the European Parliament and the Council of Europe on issues of human rights law and the Internet. The scientific lead of international multistakeholder initiatives on the law and politics of the Internet, he publishes regularly on issues of Internet and law in leading academic and popular outlets. 

Christina Voigt is Professor at the Department of Public and International law, University of Oslo, Norway. She is the author of “Sustainable Development as a Principle of International Law” (M. Nijhoff, 2009) and edited volumes, such as “Sustainable Development in International and National Law” (with H.C. Bugge, Europa Law Publishing, 2008), “Rule of Law for Nature” (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and “The Common Interest in International Law” (with W. Benedek, K. De Feyter and M. Kettemann, Intersentia, 2014). Her teaching and research is in international environmental law and public international law. She works in particular on legal issues of climate change, sustainability and the interface between environmental and trade law. In 2009, she was awarded the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Academy of Environmental Law Junior Scholarship Prize for her academic writing. In 2009 and 2010, she worked for the Norwegian government as lead negotiator on REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) in the UN climate negotiations. In 2013, she was co-chair for the UNFCCC work program on results-based financing for REDD+, which successfully achieved a decision on this matter by COP 19 in Warszawa, November 2013. She works as legal consultant for the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and the Environment and several governmental and non-governmental organisations. She received her legal education at the Universität Passau (Germany), holds an LL.M. in Environmental Law from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and received a doctorate in law from the University of Oslo. She has taught/is teaching guest courses in international environmental law and in climate change law at the University of Lund, Sweden (2003-2007), the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2011-12) and the University of Auckland, New Zealand (2014). She is currently on the Steering Committee of "The Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order" (Pluricourts) research project, awarded Centre of Excellence Status, where she is project coordinator for the environmental sector. She also is a founding member of the research groups on ‘Natural Resources Law’ and ‘International Relations’. Christina is Academic Coordinator of International Affairs at the Faculty of Law, member of the Law Faculty’s Council for Researcher Education (PFF) and board member of the University of Oslo – Energy Initiative.