Interference in Sovereign Affairs and the Discursive Economy of International Law

Frédéric Mégret is a Full Professor and holds the Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law at the Faculty of Law, McGill University. His work lies at the intersection of international law, legal theory and history, and human rights.

• AcknowledgementIntroduction: The World-Making Character of Interference and Non-interference1 What It Means to ‘Constitute’2 The Rule of Non-intervention, the Practice of Interference3 The ‘New Interference’ and International LawPart 1Interference and Non-interference: A Short History1 Non-interference’s Conditions of Possibility2 Non-interference and State Building3 Historicizing Interference and Non-interference1 The Emergence of Non-interference as a Norm in International Law1 Introduction1.1 The Relative Early Irrelevance of Non-intervention1.2 The Rise of Non-intervention as a Concern1.3 Recognitions of Insurgency, Belligerency, Governments and New States2 Interference within Non-interference and the Paradoxical Logic of Spheres2.1 From the Monroe Doctrine to the Roosevelt Corollary2.2 The Brezhnev Doctrine and Socialist Internationalism2.3 An International Normalization?3 Deprovincializing Non-interference? Cosmopolitanization and the Role of Human Rights3.1 The Helsinki Conference as Formative Episode3.2 Between Humanitarianism and droits-de-l’hommisme3.3 A Droit d’Ingérence?4 Push-Back: The Third-World Attempt at Sanctification of Non-interference4.1 From the Americas to the United Nations4.2 The Emerging International Legal Formalization of Non-interference4.3 The Continuing Fate of Non-interference2 The Rise of the ‘New’ Interference1 Introduction2 The End of the Cold War and the Uncertain Fate of Interference2.1 Renewed Interference?2.2 Renewed Pushback?2.3 The Rise of the Anti-Interference State3 Blowback: Revenge of the South?3.1 ‘Off Script’ Interference3.2 The Reversal of Interference Fluxes3.3 Benign or Malign?4 Late International Legal Anxieties4.1 New Provenance4.2 New Targets4.3 New MeansPart 2The Age of Interference: Questions for International Law1 Non-interference as Argumentative Claim2 The Framing Role of International Law3 The Distinctiveness of Interference3 Prodding the Breadth and Depth of the Evolving Domaine Réservé: What Is Left?1 Introduction: Ceci N’est Pas Un Domaine Réservé …1.1 Essence, Residue or Practice?1.2 The Many Facets of the Domaine Réservé1.3 The International Law of Jurisdiction as Approximation of the Domaine2 Minimal State/Total State2.1 Mutations of Sovereignty2.2 The Attempted Sanctuarization of the Domestic Domain2.3 (Re)nationalizing Politics?3 Human Rights/Democracy3.1 Do Human Rights Spell the End of the Domaine Réservé?3.2 Rehabilitating the ‘Human Rights State’3.3 Exceptionalizing Democracy?4 National Self-determination/Global Values4.1 Self-determination: Impeding or Mandating Interference?4.2 Interference by Invitation?4.3 Self-Determination without Self-Determination?4 The Nature of Interference: What Does It Take?1 Introduction1.1 The Policy Framing1.2 The Limits of Reasoning by Analogy1.3 Interference in the Shadow of Intervention?2 Coercion/Disruption2.1 The Definitional Challenge2.2 Coercion and Its Limits2.3 Beyond Coercion?3 Public/Private3.1 The Invisibility of Private Interference3.2 Issues of Attribution3.3 Beyond Attribution?4 Unilateral/Supranational4.1 Foundations for the Permissibility of Internationally Justified Interference4.2 Justifying Interference: From Decolonization to Human Rights4.3 Can International Law Justify Interference?Part 3Strategic Dilemmas of Interference1 The Function and Constraint of Arguments about Interference2 The Curse of Mimetism, the Hope of Reciprocity3 Defining the Conditions of International Engagement5 Engaging the Dilemmas of the Domestic and the International1 Introduction1.1 Interference as Crisis1.2 Two Models1.3 International Law’s Calling?2 Domestic v International Law?2.1 Privileging the Domestic2.2 The Relative Irrelevance of International Law2.3 The Unavoidability of International Law?3 Horizontal v Vertical Interference?3.1 International Organizations’ Interference with Domestic Affairs3.2 The Distinctiveness of International Organizations’ Interference3.3 The Limited Relevance of International Organizations’ Interference for State Interference4 International law v Human Rights?4.1 Pushing Back against Excessive Non-interference Agendas4.2 Human Rights: Buttressing the Case for Non-interference?4.3 The Problem of Stigmatizing Certain Populations6 Imagining a Baseline1 Introduction2 A Duty to Engage?2.1 The Liberal Acceptability of Non-engagement2.2 Questioning the Laissez Faire Bases of International Law2.3 Friendly Relations?3 A Duty of Transparency?3.1 Demanding Truth3.2 Perfidy and the Requirement of Transparency3.3 The Limits of Transparency4 A Duty of Consistency?4.1 Horizontal Consistency4.2 Vertical Consistency4.3 Beyond Consistency: On Seeing Oneself in the MirrorConclusion: Routinized Interference: The Unravelling of Sovereignty?1 Reclaiming and Transcending the Ironies of Interference2 Non-interference: Rule, Praxis or Ethos?3 The Meaning of Interference for, Rather than in International LawIndex