Problems in Teaching Public International Law
Journal: T.M.C. Asser Press eBooks
Year: 2026

One of the contributions of critical legal scholarship is to encourage the writer to reflect over what they are doing and why. The nature and experience of international law means that a teacher and researcher can often be assailed with self-doubt. Why enthuse young people for a subject which seems to weave between excusing the (mis)use of power and building a (unrealistic) utopia? Why research about the limits the law places on state action when powerful states seem to be able to ignore these l