International Law Interrupted: A Case of Selective Adaptation

Abstract

This article outlines one possible discourse on the process of internalization of international law, "a coping strategy," particularly utilized by developing states and societies to balance local needs against the requirement for compliance with external or non-local rules. It grew out of a series of examinations by a group of scholars from Australia, Canada, China, and Japan involved in the Cross-Cultural Dispute Resolution project on the selective adaptation discourse that provides an alternative perspective on how the rules of international law are locally contextualized. The article first explains the conceptual framework of selective adaptation and then proceeds to summarize the general hypotheses of the discourse. Next, it illustrates how selective adaptation is applied in international trade law and international human rights law and it concludes by indicating the manner and circumstances under which selective adaptation affects the dynamics of the application and enforcement of international law.

Keywords: International law