International Law in Public Debate

236 Pages·2021·4.066 MB·English

by  Madelaine Chiam

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INTERNATIONAL LAW IN PUBLIC
DEBATE
Publicdebatesinthelanguageofinternationallawhaveoccurredacrossthe
twentiethandtwenty-firstcenturiesandhaveproducedapopularformof
internationallawthatmattersforinternationalpractice.Thisbookanalyses
thepeoplewhousedinternationallawandhowtheyuseditindebatesover
Australia’sparticipationinthe2003IraqWar,theVietnamWarandthe
First World War. It examines texts such as newspapers, parliamentary
debates,publicprotestsandotherexpressionsofpublicopinion.Itargues
thattheseinterventionsproducedaformofinternationallawthatshares
a vocabulary and grammar with the expert forms of that language and
distinct competences in order to be persuasive. This longer history also
illustratesamovefromtheuseofinternational legal languageaspartof
collectivejustificationstotheuseofinternationallawasanautonomous
justificationforstateaction.
madelaine chiam is a senior lecturer at La Trobe University Law
School. She is also a founding member of the La Trobe International
LegalStudiesResearchGroup.

I N T E R N A T I O N A L L A W I N
P U B L I C D E B A T E
MADELAINE CHIAM
LaTrobeUniversity
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,NY10006,USA
477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia
314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre,
NewDelhi–110025,India
79AnsonRoad,#06–04/06,Singapore079906
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108499293
DOI:10.1017/9781108588584
©MadelaineChiam2021
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2021
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
ISBN978-1-108-49929-3Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
CONTENTS
Foreword pageix
Acknowledgements xii
1 InternationalLawinPublicDebate 1
1.1 TwoStories 3
1.1.1 TheUnitedKingdomIraqInquiryReport,2016 3
1.1.2 TheWorldTribunalonIraq,2005 7
1.1.3 WhattheStoriesTellUs 9
1.2 OverviewoftheBook 11
1.2.1 ChoosingAustraliaandChoosingWars 11
1.2.2 TheArgument 14
2 A‘Popular’InternationalLaw 18
2.1 ProducingLegalitythrough‘Popular’Law 19
2.2 PublicDebateandLawasLanguage 22
2.2.1 PublicDebateandItsTexts 22
2.2.2 InternationalLawasLanguage 25
2.2.3 SpeakersandAnalyticalTools 30
2.3 SomeFinalNotesonHistoricalMethod 36
3 PublicDebatein2003:TheIraqWar 41
3.1 Introduction 41
3.2 TimingandSources 42
3.3 TheContext 44
3.3.1 TheHowardGovernment’sAustralia 44
3.3.2 AlignmentwiththeBushAdministration 47
v
vi contents
3.3.3 Australia,theSecurityCouncilandtheFinal
PushtoWar 51
3.4 ThePublicDebate 56
3.4.1 InternationalLegalLanguageandLegality 57
3.4.2 InternationalLawasSelf-Defence,Humanitarianism
andtheJustWar 71
3.4.3 InternationalLawasAlliance 81
3.5 Conclusion 84
4 PublicDebatein1965–66:TheVietnamWar 89
4.1 Introduction 89
4.2 TimingandSources 91
4.3 TheContexts 94
4.4 ThePublicDebate 107
4.4.1 InternationalLegalLanguageandLegality 108
4.4.2 InternationalLawasaStandardofMorality 121
4.4.3 InternationalLawasAlliance 128
4.5 Conclusion 130
5 PublicDebatein1916:TheFirstWorldWar 134
5.1 Introduction 134
5.2 TimingandSources 137
5.3 TheContext 138
5.4 ThePublicDebate 148
5.4.1 TheLegalQuibble 149
5.4.2 WhiteAustralia,CivilLibertiesandEmpire 152
5.4.3 EqualityofSacrifice:ADifferentInternationalism 165
5.5 Conclusion 170
6 Conclusion 174
6.1 APopularInternationalLaw 174
6.1.1 WhoSpokeInternationalLegalLanguage? 174
contents vii
6.1.2 WhatWeretheCharacteristicsofThisPopular
InternationalLaw? 177
6.1.3 GeneralisingfromtheParticular 180
6.2 SomeFinalObservations 180
Bibliography 185
Index 212