Intellectual Continuity and Authority: Interrogating the Construction of National Traditions in International Legal Scholarship

Abstract

Over the past decades, there has been a noticeable resurgence of interest in
the intellectual history of international law, with a heightened focus on scholarly
traditions1. National traditions have habitually been recognized as distinct
and enduring intellectual currents that shape the broader stream of global
scholarship. In the realm of international law, the concept of national scholarly
traditions (e.g., the United States, the Hellenic, the Italian tradition) and regional
traditions (e.g., the European, the Asian or the Latin American) have
garnered a lot of attention as an object of study or as an analytic, with scholars
attributing various palpable characteristics to these traditions, highlighting
tangible connections, shared experiences, and social structures in shaping
communal identities.