Renovating the procedural architecture of international law
Contemporary global governance is marked by its thoroughly legal character. Even as participants grapple with the distinctive challenges presented by globalization, including the diversification of stakeholders, international law continues to provide a critical touchstone orienting social action. While many specific provisions of international law remain contested, the basic procedural architecture underpinning the panoply of functional bodies of international law rarely attracts attention. This architecture dates largely from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and is increasingly inadequate in a culturally heterogeneous networked world. The fundamental challenge is to ensure the continuing legitimacy of international law as a technique for reaching and implementing governance agreements. In the present context, this entails confronting potential challenges from civil society and corporate actors, as well as from rising powers with distinctive legal traditions. This article provides a brief overview of several critical procedural pillars of international aw. It makes the case that sustained attention to updating these rules and practices could improve global governance across a wide variety of issue-areas. The paper concludes by identifying policy options for updating and for enhancing the legitimacy of the procedural architecture of international law.