The Reshaping of the Rules-based International order: Case Studies in Action

Abstract

The term 'rules-based international order' has been used with increasing frequency over the past couple of decades almost as an aide-memoire to state and non-state actors alike, that global engagement is undertaken according to a particular set of rules. Yet there is little clarity about which ones or whose rules are operative or dominant. Hence, it is imperative that the issues around what is the rules-based international order and how it is being re-shaped be addressed. This thesis explores these questions and explicates the potential for a new sub-field of enquiry for the discipline of comparative law, embedded in a transdisciplinary framework. These analyses serve to demonstrate that the rules-based international order is a single framework to which comparative law and comparative lawyers are central to its interpretation. Acceptance of the fundamental principle that the most effective and desirable way of keeping the arbitrary abuse of political and economic power in check - and maintaining it that way - is through the existing rules-based international order which means that this offers the most effective way of a) Continuing to lift people out of poverty around the globe; b) Addressing the current challenges of climate change; c) Dealing positively with irregular migration; d) Countering pandemics such as the COVID 19 virus; and e) Protecting and promoting the values espoused in the order's core instruments. In order to facilitate this, effective communication of these fundamental principles is essential and especially so to those who currently feel excluded, 'left behind', unseen and unheard, disempowered and disenfranchised. Such communication requires flexibility and fluidity which is most efficacious in an environment freed from the constraints of disciplinary boundaries and open to an expansive lens on the rules-based international order with the potential of enlightening and useful perspectives. The thesis aims to investigate: a) The domestic consequences and disruption of globalisation and how these are to be scoped and understood (Chapters 3 - 6); and b) The potential contribution of a new conception of comparative law to the understanding of iterations arising from an evolving rules-based international order (chapters 7 - 8). The first aim is addressed through a series of case studies through which four foci of the thesis are identified: Institutions; Regulation; Integration; and Trust (Chapters 3 - 6). Building on the analyses derived from the eight case studies, the potential of a new sub-discipline of comparative law, namely international comparative law, to achieve a new understanding of the rules-based international order is explored. The central argument is that international comparative law has the potential to explain the collective commitment of non-traditional legal systems and thus offer fresh insights into how respect for the rule of law might be restored to the rules-based international order. IN adopting this approach the thesis also addresses the issues underlying this dissonance between aspirations at the international level and the sense of disempowerment and loss of agency increasingly felt locally in order to seek a way forward. Show more