Interdisciplinary Research on International Relations Theory and International Law in China over the Past 10 Years

• Published in: Frontiers of law in China Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 496 - 523
• Main Author: Liu, Zhiyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Higher Education Press 01.09.2011; SP Higher Education Press; Higher Education Press Limited Company
• Subjects: Cooperation; Fundamentals of Law; Interdisciplinary aspects; interdisciplinary research; International law; International relations; international relations theory; Judicial process; Law; Law and Criminology; Legal research; Methods; Morality; prospect; Realism; review; Review Article; Studies; World War II; China; international relations theory; prospect; international law; interdisciplinary research; review
• ISSN: 1673-3428; 1673-3541
• DOI: 10.1007/s11463-011-0141-5

From the origin, there has been a strong connection between international relations and international law. In the development of the history of different academic subjects, the research on international relations and international law are interdependently promoting each other. As a result, the realization of interdisciplinary research on international legal theory and the study of international law is inevitable. As a matter of fact, even though the interdisciplinary research of the two subjects has been separated for almost half a century, the need for the development of the subject and the changing world political and economical status give them a new chance for reunification. Recently, the interdisciplinary research on international relations theory and international law by the Western academic is becoming the order of the day, which has become the latest shining point of the recent development of the two subjects, which is even regarded as the new revolution of international relations theory and the study of international law. In this context, the past ten years is a period of emergence of Chinese international relations and the interdisciplinary research of international law. In the past ten years, some scholars have overcome "the difficulty of interdisciplinary research," "the prejudice within the subject" and "the gap among different subjects," and made pioneering research in the field of "systematic connection" and "issues in overlapping field." Moreover, they gradually make the interdisciplinary research to be a popular method and a common recognition. Based on the current studies, interdisciplinary research will have a broad future in the fields such as "the interchange of concepts," "the exchange of method," and "the mutual assistance of materials," which will provide scholars in this area with a broad space for research.