Concept Note

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Making International Law Relevant – Promises and Challenges for India’. The conference acknowledges the fact that international law is not a prominent part of Indian legal practice and public discourse. The conference aims at challenging this status quo with analytical, reflective and grounded papers which show the significance of international law to the Indian context.

The submissions could highlight how international law could become an arena through which the Indian State could advance its strategic interests, whether in tribunals, international organisations, or in its relations with other States and international actors (as most clearly seen in the Khulbushan Jadhav case or India’s attempt to secure a permanent seat at the Security Council). Submissions could similarly discuss how India should align its domestic practices and policies towards compliance with international law to serve strategic interests, such as avoiding repetitions of Vodafone-like litigation. In sum, submissions should not only engage with the law, but offer compelling policy reasons for the practical importance or utility of taking international law seriously.

Equally, we welcome pieces arguing for the relevance of international law where it is absent in mainstream literature on any domestic controversies in any contexts. All fields in public and private international law may be engaged with, including:

• International human rights law
• International humanitarian law
• International criminal law
• International investment law
• International trade law
• International commercial arbitration
• International environmental law
• International space law

We are happy if any interested authors wish to share their topic of interest with us before writing, on the contact provided below.

If pieces purely include an application of the law, or re-articulate it in contexts where it has already been extensively debated, we would encourage sending them to our rolling blog, rather than the Conference. If authors wish to write on any historical issue, their analysis should nevertheless be linked to some contemporary debates or events.

Paper Expectations & Awards

It is compulsory for authors to submit a 100-200 word abstract on this form. Once the abstracts are shortlisted, selected candidates will be asked to submit a 2,000-2,500 word paper.

Co-authorship is not allowed for the conference. Further, kindly use hyperlinks for citations. We are unable to accept submissions with footnotes.

All selected attendees will be given a certificate of merit. Please note that authors will be considered for awards in two separate categories, ‘Internal’ (JGLS students) and ‘External’.

The five best ranked submissions in each category shall be rewarded with a certificate of excellence and individual gift vouchers amounting to 5,000/- INR each.