Conference Program

This paper offers a detailed examination of the Global South's rising powers within the Liberal International Order (LIO), with a specific focus on the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). Originating from the decolonization movements post-World War II, TWAIL stands as a pivotal ideological and practical response to Western-centric international law, representing a challenge to colonial legacies and Western dominance.

The historical underpinnings of TWAIL highlight its dual nature: a reactive stance against the imperialistic elements of international law and a proactive effort towards internal transformation within the Third World. Building on this historical context, the paper then scrutinizes how TWAIL perceives and interacts with the LIO, particularly in the realm of complex great power politics. It examines TWAIL's critique of the existing international norms and institutions that perpetuate a racialized hierarchy, disadvantaging non-European states.

The aim of this paper is to provide a nuanced understanding of the interplay between the Global South and LIO through the lens of TWAIL. This exploration offers insights into how the Rising Powers of the Global South are reshaping the landscape of international law and order, advocating for a more inclusive and equitable global governance system.

Recently, there have been various kinds of challenges to what is called Liberal International Order (LIO), that means, an assembled of principles, institutions and practices generated from different actors. The LIO has been developed thanks to rules-based order, mainly on political and economic liberalism, and Public International Law. However, today's LIO is not the same one that was created after the II WW but is the product or the reaction to structural and conjunctural changes taken place globally and regionally, in what can be called a process of contestation.

We understand structural contestation as a process, taken mainly but not exclusively by emerging powers to challenge or alter the structural domination exercised by great powers. The contestation process is not an exclusive expression from the emerging powers, it is also a movement that has had pronouncement in some great powers intended to modify the agreements and consensuses established on the bases of the LIO.

This paper questioned to what extent is the LIO contested through the actions taken by the emerging powers or the great powers? To answers this question, we will be focus on Israel – Hamma's war has been created and maintained by actions that favor great powers, but not structural solutions. Even though the space of emerging powers has grown, both structurally and discursively, it remains weak to provide solutions to current problems.

How do norms travel? If International Relations (IR) is about politics of power played out between different countries how and why do norms get adopted? IR scholars have examined transnational norm diffusion from the global to the local through the lenses of global networks, principles agents or advocacy coalitions. However, at the local level, these norms are not received passively but are ‘localized’ in what Acharya calls ‘Norm localization’. This paper moves beyond these scholarly strands to show that norms also have a demonstrative impact on the local discourse, which I term ‘norm demonstration’. This process is an important precursor to both diffusion and localization of norms from global to local. In this context, the paper highlights the embedded liberal stance of the countries of the global south and tries to tease out the ideational frame within which discussions occur, and the politics played out between domestic constituents such as the industrial groups; research think tanks, non-governmental organizations, the bureaucracy and the executive.