TWAIL Pedagogy: Teaching International Law Better

al Attar, Mohsen and Quintero Godinez, Rafael (2023) TWAIL Pedagogy: Teaching International Law Better. In: TWAIL Reader. Edward Elgar. (In Press)

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Abstract

Teaching international law is a challenging endeavour. The subject is broad and messy, with a panoply of priorities competing for attention. It is easy for the material to become convoluted and, in the worst instances, unmoored from reality. These qualities are particularly pernicious when academics teach international law from a Eurocentric perspective. Standard at most law schools, a Eurocentric approach focuses on state interactions in a vacuum, with little regard paid to the context or implications of their actions. By contrast, a TWAIL-based pedagogy does not treat international law as the starting or finish point of the discussion, but as a lens to understand human interactions. TWAIL scholars regard colonialism, imperialism, and exploitation as building blocks of the current world order and thus essential to the study of international law. This pedagogical approach collapses the Eurocentric confines of classical teaching about international law, taking students beyond the artificial ideal commonly displayed in textbooks. By engaging with the predation that colours international legal history, students learn that international law is not a flawless good but an instrument for the advance of a parochial worldview to the benefit of some and at the expense of others. Only once we recognise international law’s chequered character is it possible for us to conceive of a more progressive international law.

Item Type:	Book Section
Dates:	Date Event 1 March 2023 Accepted
Subjects:	CAH16 - law > CAH16-01 - law > CAH16-01-01 - law
Divisions:	Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Law, Social and Criminal Justice
Depositing User:	Rafael Quintero
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2023 13:48
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2024 12:40
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14587