Patterns of dominance in international law mean that certain national or regional approaches have played a disproportionate role in defining what counts as the neutral international law approach.

Across a whole variety of matrices, Western approaches tend in general to be the ones that are considered to be ‘international’. With changing geopolitical power, however, such Western approaches may come under increasing pressure. The dissimilar views across rising non-Western powers may further exacerbate the contestation of the international order and undermine universal understandings of international law.

Kevin Marco Tanaya from the AIIA National Office interviewed Associate Professor Anthea Roberts prior to her talk at AIIA ACT Branch on 1 August 2018. 

Anthea Roberts is Associate Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at The Australian National University. She is a specialist in public international law, investment treaty law and arbitration and comparative international law. She is also currently a Visiting Professor on the Masters of International Dispute Settlement at the Graduate Institute, University of Geneva.

Anthea’s book ‘Is International Law International?’ was awarded the American Society of International Law’s 2018 Book Prize for the preeminent contribution to creative scholarship and has been Oxford University Press’s top-selling law monograph worldwide in 2017-18.

Interview by Kevin Marco Tanaya.

Video and editing by Tommy Chai.