Originally from Reflections on International Arbitration - Essays in Honour of Professor George Bermann

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International legal scholarship has changed in, at least, two important ways in the last 50 years. In the first place, the context of inquiry of transnational law has widened.  Transnational legal scholars are currently concerned not so much with whether transnational law exists—in other words, the tired debate between positive law and legal pluralism as to whether legal norms can be validly produced outside and beyond the formal sources and processes of states. Rather, they are mainly concerned with whether international law is fair and meets certain standards of legitimacy.

In the second place, and interrelatedly, the method of inquiry of international law has shifted from being mainly doctrinal to inter¬disciplinary. A number of interdisciplinary inquiries has opened new horizons for transnational legal scholars by crossing traditional boundaries within the field of law, such as private and public international law,  as well as by transcending legal and non-legal disciplines, including economics, sociology, international relationships and politics.  The aim of interdisciplinary inquiries to international law has been the development of a more coherent version of international law which can produce a positive and tangible impact on peoples’ lives and civil societies.