Research Handbook on International Law and Cities

Awarded the 2022 ESIL Collaborative Book Prize

''Research Handbooks tend to be just that – a book for reading selected contents one is interested in. Not this Handbook – it is fascinating from the beginning to end. Research Handbook of International Law and Cities, edited by Helmut Philip Aust and Janne E. Nijman, is an innovative collaborative work because it draws light at the growing importance of cities in international legal frameworks. Traditionally, cities have had relatively little to do with international law as the law of nations was constructed around the nation state and its sovereignty. The book invites us to rethink this proposition as it demonstrates how cities have become active in areas traditionally thought to be relating to international law. It thus raises awareness of a blind spot in international law, filling a research gap – adding more actors to the multiplicity of actors relevant in international law. […]
Overall, the book impresses with the range of its perspectives, it accommodates 35 different chapters from a group of scholars who can be called diverse and also illustrate the value of best edited books which are together stronger and richer than each constitutive part would be alone. In this sense, the volume is thought-provoking in the best sense of the word. It does push the reader to think about international law differently than before since the underlying phenomena and questions of the book are so interesting and the role of cities is convincingly and holistically set out.''
– Jury’s decision (partial)

‘This is an essential read for all of those studying or working at the intersection of International Relations and urban policy. The volume is a treasure trove of legal and international nuance critical to unpack the challenges that confront the internationalization of cities in the multilateral arena.’
– Michele Acuto, International Affairs

‘I would commend this book to all lawyers practising in the field of public international law and to students of the subject. It is a useful and innovating reference book and contributes to a better understanding of the role of cities in various fields of international law.’
– Stephen D Sutton, The Law Society Gazette

‘Aust and Nijman’s Research Handbook on International Law and Cities captures the complexity, and the controversy, of the relationship between cities and international law in all its splendour. This is a skilfully designed and executed – and coherent – work from the leading legal scholars in the field. The reader is led through the history, structure and many of the current issues in what is an increasingly well-established field, both academically and in practice. There will be many more thematic avenues to explore but the principles and the path are set out here. This book will become a dear friend for many historians, political scientists and lawyers, to name but a few.’
– Robert Lewis-Lettington, UN-Habitat

‘Walter Benjamin – foremost among writers on cities – once observed (to paraphrase) that crafting a good piece of writing entails making, at once, a musical composition, an architectural construction, and a woven textile. The Research Handbook on International Law and Cities that Helmut Aust and Janne Nijman have assembled, working with Miha Marcenko and a superb array of contributors, succeeds in all these ways. Combining historical, conceptual, practical and critical takes on the role of cities in global phenomena, and on various manifestations of the global in the urban, it sounds provocative notes for future work. Its construction is at once magisterial and replete with intriguing openings. Its fabric is rich in theoretical and empirical threads of value to international law and cognate disciplines. As one sometimes does in a city, I lost myself in its pages, in the most pleasurable way. Regardless of their disciplinary or geographic starting point, all those who read it – or should I say, visit this volume’s many cities – are sure to emerge newly informed and inspired.’
– Fleur Johns, UNSW Sydney, Australia

‘This Research Handbook offers a rich array of insightful analyses about the way that international law is being shaped, interpreted, and implemented by cities. After exploring historical antecedents, the volume dives into structural aspects of cities within international law, before tackling the role of cities in reshaping particular subject matter areas, such as climate change, human rights and refugees. For those captivated by States and international organizations as the only actors that count, this volume will change your mind.’
– Sean D. Murphy, George Washington University, US and Member, U.N. International Law Commission

Contributors: H.P. Aust, N. Barak, M. Baumgärtel, A. Beaudouin, S. Besson, Y. Blank, T. Boestad, G. Cartier, J.K. Cogan, C.M. Colombo, K. Creutz, S. Curtis, M.F. Davis, E. de Nictolis, A. du Plessis, A. Duval, L. Eslava, S.R. Foster, E. Fromageau, M.L.P. Groenleer, V. Hansen, G. Hill, C. Iaione, J. Klabbers, K. Knop, L.J. Kotzé, S. Lepsius, J. Lin, D. Litwin, J.L. Martí, J.E. Nijman, L. Nuzzo, B. Oomen, L.L. Reimers, M. Riegner, M. Rodas, A. Rodiles, M. Sossai, C. Swiney, Y. Takashiba, J.E. Viñuales, B. Vormann

Contents:

1 The emerging roles of cities in international law – introductory remarks
on practice, scholarship and the Handbook 1
Helmut Philipp Aust and Janne E. Nijman

PART I INTERNATIONAL LEGAL HISTORIES OF CITIES
2 Silk Road cities and their co-existing legal traditions 17
Valerie Hansen
3 Legitimizing interurban cooperation in the Middle Ages: the legal
system of the Hanse 29
Tobias Boestad
4 The legal system among Italian city republics 41
Susanne Lepsius
5 Cities and international law: an imperial perspective 52
Luigi Nuzzo
6 Invisibility of cities in classical international law 64
Mirko Sossai
7 Cities, post-coloniality and international law 77
Luis Eslava and George Hill
8 Global city networks and the nation-state: rethinking a false tradeoff 90
Boris Vormann

PART II CITIES AND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW
9 International legal personality/subjectivity of cities 103
Yishai Blank
10 Sources and law-making 121
Yukiko Takashiba
11 Responsibility 135
Katja Creutz
12 Dispute settlement 147
Moritz Baumgärtel
13 International organizations and cities 158
Jacob Katz Cogan
14 Sovereignty 173
Anouche Beaudouin

PART III PRACTICE AREAS: HOW CITIES ARE RESHAPING
INTERNATIONAL LAW
15 Climate change law and sustainable development 187
Anél du Plessis
16 The role of transnational city networks in environmental governance 201
Jolene Lin
17 The global insecure counterterrorism city 214
Alejandro Rodiles
18 Finding international law ‘close to home’: the case of human rights cities 227
Martha F. Davis
19 Cities, refugees and migration 240
Barbara Oomen
20 Development cooperation and the city 251
Michael Riegner
21 The role of cities in the global governance of health 265
Christian Iaione and Elena de Nictolis
22 The law of economic globalization and cities 279
Jorge E. Viñuales and Lucy Lu Reimers
23 From global city to Olympic city: the transnational legal journey of
London 2012 293
Antoine Duval
24 City diplomacy: experience from the ground 305
Mauricio Rodas

PART IV CROSS-CUTTING PERSPECTIVES ON CITIES AND
INTERNATIONAL LAW
25 An international relations perspective 321
Simon Curtis
26 Urbanizing political concepts for analyzing politics in the city 329
Nir Barak and Avner de Shalit
27 Cities as democratic representatives in international law-making 341
Samantha Besson and José Luis Martí
28 Cities, the Anthropocene and earth system law 354
Louis J. Kotzé
29 City networks and the glocalization of urban governance 368
Sheila R. Foster and Chrystie Swiney
30 The relationship between the state and the city from a comparative
(constitutional) perspective 381
Geneviève Cartier
31 How domestic legal systems respond to international local government
law: between accommodation, resistance and transformation 398
Carlo M. Colombo and Martijn L.P. Groenleer
32 Global administrative law and cities: the perfect couple that never was 411
Edouard Fromageau
33 Inter-legality, cities and the changing nature of authority 419
Jan Klabbers
34 International lawyers and the city 430
Daniel Litwin
35 The hidden city in international legal thought 443
Karen Knop
Appendix 457
Helmut Aust and Janne E. Nijman

Index