Rewriting the Global Legal Map? China, the Indo-Pacific, and the [R]evolution of International Legal Order — ABILA International Law Weekend 2026
I am pleased to announce that I will chair and moderate a panel entitled “Rewriting the Global Legal Map? China, the Indo-Pacific, and the [R]evolution of International Legal Order” at International Law Weekend 2026, organized by the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA).
The conference will take place in New York City from October 22 to 24, 2026, under the overarching theme “[R]evolution in the International Legal Order.”
Our panel will be held on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at 10:30 a.m., in Room 2-01B at Fordham University School of Law.
The session is sponsored by the ABILA Committee on International Law, China, and the Reconfiguration of the Global Order, which I chair.
About the Panel
The contemporary international legal order is undergoing profound transformations. The growing influence of China, the development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the United States’ Indo-Pacific Strategy, EU-China and US-China Trade relations, and the increasing significance of regional economic and institutional arrangements raise fundamental questions about the future structure, authority, and legitimacy of international law.
These developments cannot be understood solely as manifestations of geopolitical competition or a redistribution of economic and political power. They also involve changes in the ways international legal norms are developed, interpreted, institutionalized, and applied.
Our panel will examine the interaction between competing geopolitical frameworks and evolving legal architectures, drawing on international economic law, environmental and energy governance, legal theory, and international relations.
Particular attention will be devoted to overlapping trade and investment regimes, emerging international financial institutions, infrastructure and development arrangements, and the role of Global South actors in shaping legal norms and institutional practices.
The discussion will also consider the emergence of new legal cartographies, including the Indo-Pacific and Eurasian economic corridors, and their implications for sovereignty, institutional legitimacy, international cooperation, and legal pluralism.
At the center of our discussion is a fundamental question: Are these transformations producing a rupture in the established international legal order, or do they represent its adaptation to an increasingly multipolar world?
Speakers
The panel brings together experts whose expertise spans international economic law, Chinese law, international institutions, global governance, and the relationship between domestic and international legal systems.
Annalisa Ciampi
University of Verona; former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association.
Keith Hand
University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, Center for East Asian Legal Studies,
Gregory Shaffer
Georgetown University Law Center.
Carrie Shu Shang
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Chair, Moderator, and Discussant: Paolo Davide Farah
University of Tulsa College of Law; Chair, ABILA Committee on International Law, China, and the Reconfiguration of the Global Order.
International Law in a Changing Global Order
The panel forms part of the broader scholarly activities of the ABILA Committee on International Law, China, and the Reconfiguration of the Global Order.
The Committee provides a forum for examining the changing role of China and other emerging powers in the development of international law, the interaction between established and emerging institutions, and the implications of geopolitical and economic transformations for the international legal system.
These questions also connect to the work of the International Law Association Study Group on International Law, Global Challenges, and the Impact of Emerging Powers on Global Governance.
By bringing together complementary perspectives on legal transformation, institutional development, and international cooperation, the session aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how international law may evolve in response to competing visions of global governance.
I look forward to welcoming colleagues, scholars, practitioners, and students to this discussion in New York.
Event Information
International Law Weekend 2026
October 22–24, 2026
Panel: Saturday, October 24, at 10:30 a.m.
Room 2-01B, Fordham University School of Law
150 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023
Registration: https://lnkd.in/gdYx7QqR
#ILW26 #ABILA #InternationalLaw #China #IndoPacific #GlobalGovernance #BeltAndRoadInitiative
Bibliographical References