Micro International Law

Abstract

International law has long been viewed as the domain of countries and capitals, not fields or factories, but this overly top-down perspective misses a critical and under-studied dimension. Underneath the macro level of international agreements and standardized legal approaches and norms, international law is much more nuanced, with multiple sources of influence, production, design, adoption, and decision-making, which need to be more systemically recognized and compared in both scholarship and practice. Models stemming from legal systems in less powerful states, smaller-scale stakeholder interests, and local solutions are often treated as one-off anecdotes or isolated case studies without broader implications. Cataloging these lessons, aggregating them, and building a methodology around them could be transformational at a time when international law is both under siege and in need of a refresh to make it more responsive to a new set of global challenges ranging from inequality to food insecurity and climate change. This paper presents a new approach for studying, designing, and implementing international law in the form of a conceptual and methodological framework for “micro international law,” a proposed sub-field of international legal studies. A micro dimension would align international law with other disciplines that recognize the importance of studying issues at a more granular level. It would also make a significant contribution to the international legal field by integrating theoretical and empirical approaches that focus on the circular relationship between international law and smaller-scale domestic legal innovations and stakeholder interests, ultimately providing a framework for redesigning international law to positively impact the lives of those whom it aims to serve and benefit.