Modest International Law COVID-19, International Legal Responses, and Depoliticization

• Published in: The American journal of international law Vol. 114; no. 4; pp. 687 - 697
• Main Authors: Quintana, Francisco-José, Uriburu, Justina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Cambridge University Press 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Agora: The International Legal Order and the Global Pandemic; Ambition; Attorneys; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 (Disease); Deployment; Economic life; ETHICS; Government liability; Government liability (International law); Health aspects; Human rights; International; INTERNATIONAL LAW; International organizations; Law and legislation; Laws, regulations and rules; Legal ethics; Management; Pandemics; Political aspects; Political sociology; Politicization; PUBLIC HEALTH; Public health administration; Public health laws; Social aspects; State responsibility; Viruses; CHINA; China
• ISSN: 0002-9300; 2161-7953
• DOI: 10.1017/ajil.2020.65

In this Essay, we analyze two sets of international legal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: the academic discussion on state responsibility; and the deployment of international law as a tool for resistance. We argue that both approaches made significant contributions but concealed the role of the discipline in the production of the conditions that led to the pandemic and its unequal impact. These interventions reflect a “modest international law”; an understanding of the discipline that hinders change and is ethically weak. We contend that repoliticization can help reclaim international law’s ambition and responsibility.