The Other Death of International Law
Leiden Journal of International Law, Vol. 14, p. 3, 2001
33 Pages Posted: 4 Oct 2009 Last revised: 27 Oct 2009
Date Written: 2001
Abstract
The breakup of Yugoslavia presented a rare opportunity for international law to renew itself. This essay reflects on those events through the lens of several short stories by Jorge Luis Borges. The writings of Borges suggest themselves as a vehicle through which to examine legal developments such as secession, emergence of new sovereigns, and state recognition, for a number of reasons. Not the least of these is that, as John Updike has pointed out, “his stories have the close texture of argument...” The world of Borges’ work is a closed one, with its own internal logic and a fundamental detachment from the author’s actual surroundings. In this, it is reminiscent of international law’s notorious detachment from the social, and even the historical context of the sovereign states to which it traces its sources.
Keywords: international law, secession, sovereignty, recognition, Yugoslavia
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